Zhang Shengliang, better known by his stage name Niu Niu, plays the piano in a recent Beijing event to sign with Universal Music Group. [PHOTO BY ZOU HONG/CHINA DAILY]

When pianist Zhang Shengliang, 20, was in Beijing recently ahead of the release of his new album, he showed that he has lost none of his old flair. Chen Nan reports.

The Xiamen-born pianist Zhang Shengliang, better known by his stage name Niu Niu, a derivation of his childhood nickname Niuniu, first showed his music talent at the age of 3 by playing a piece from John Thompson's Easiest Piano Course, without anyone teaching him. And he held his first solo recital a few weeks after his sixth birthday, with a program including a Mozart piano sonata and a Chopin etude.

At age 8, he became the youngest student in the 85-year history of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.

And, at 10, he performed Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No 1 at the 2007 Pearl Awards in London in the presence of Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales.

When he showed up in Beijing recently to sign a contract with global music label Universal Music Group, Zhang, now 20, showed that he has lost none of his old flair.

In his latest album, which is scheduled to be released in February, he performs repertories including Liszt's Piano Sonata in B minor, Mendelssohn's Rondo Capriccioso in E major, and Schubert's third Impromptu, D 899.

"I've played these pieces many times and I want to convey the journey that I've gone through over the past 10 years," says the pianist.

"As I grow into an older person and become a much more mature musician, I have deeper understanding of the pieces."

The upcoming album was recorded in Berlin and Zhang collaborated with four-time Grammy Award winner, recording engineer Rainer Maillard.

Since 2008, Zhang has released six albums, including a recording of Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No 2 and Paganini's Variations with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra.

Over the past 10 years, he has studied with Chinese-American music educator Chen Hung-kuan, initially at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and later at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.