Voice of Glory at the Top of the World at the Wuhan Music Academy

750 people attended this concert at the beautiful music hall of the Wuhan Music Academy and it looked as if there were as many children as young adults.  Rather than a vocal presentation, the event was part of the Hubei Province piano and art festival, put together by Professor Wang Jian, who is the Chairman of the Hubei Association and the Wuhan Music Conservatory. 

Two outstanding young ladies in their early twenties were sponsored by Terrance Ng, the owner of Parsons Music in Hong Kong and played on two beautiful maple wood Yangtze River pianos, which were soft and bright with good colour and a warm sound. 

The two artists were pupils of Professor ZhaoYi, who is one of the most well-known piano teachers in China and has produced some excellent talent, such as Yun Di Li.

It was an evening of duets, lavishly played and beautifully coordinated by the two artists, Gu Jing Dan and Li Wen Juan.  These wonderful artists started with a Chinese duet and then tackled a number of pieces on two pianos by Mozart Paganini, Lecuona and Plank.  The complexity of the pieces, particularly the Paganini, was inspiring.  The pianos and artists were joined at the hip and even one of the five year olds in the audience was moving his fingers in time with the music - watch out for him in years to come!  They both had unquestioned technical ability with Gu Jing Dan particularly showing the strength of her creamy play, working only from memory and very often with her eyes closed – just feeling the music.  Only time will give both these artists the deep subtlety that is ultimately needed.    

China has a lot of musical talent and concentrates its resources on its arts and young artists.  It puts to shame the lack of resources that is available for this in the UK and some other European countries.  It was a coincidental privilege to be part of this concert.

Kindest regards,
David

David Buchler