Carnegie Hill sounds New Year’s note

( China Daily USA ) Updated: 2016-02-11 13:16

Tian Jiaxin performs Franz Liszt's piano Concerto No.1 in E-fl at major with the Manhattan Symphonie during the Chinese New Year Spectacular Concert at Carnegie Hall in New York on Wednesday night. [Photo/China Daily]

Pianist Tian Jiaxin is getting comfortable at Carnegie Hall.

Tian, a Steinway Artist, shared the stage with conductor Gregory Singer and his orchestra, the Manhattan Symphonie, for a Chinese New Year concert at Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium Perelman Stage in New York on Wednesday night.

It was the second time that Tian rang in the Chinese New Year at the famed concert hall. The repertoire featured Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1, as well as renowned Chinese composer Yin Chengzong and Chu Wanghua's Yellow River Concerto, among many others.

During the concert, the audience experienced an exciting new twist this year - a joint performance with the Manhattan Symphonie - a New York City-based orchestra founded by Gregory Singer in 2005. The orchestra performed Li Huanzhi's Spring Festival Overture and an original composition of Singer's – War and Peace, which was a memorial dedication to the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

"It is an honor to be joined by Gregory and the Manhattan Symphonie for this year's show," Tian said in a press conference before the concert. "I look forward to giving fans a memorable performance."

At just 29 years old, Tian, a native of Beijing, is no stranger to the stage.

Born into a musical family with a mother who is an opera singer and father who is a composer, Tian is a rising international star among young piano virtuosos. Tian earned praise for her solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall in February 2013 and has since obtained her professional studies degree from the Manhattan School of Music, during which time she received the school's highest piano prize - the Harold Bauer Award.

In 2015, she starred in more than 50 concerts across the world. Her talent continues to catch international attention, having performed for the president of Austria, Heinz Fischer; and the president of Lebanon, Michael Suleiman, in 2015.

Most recently, Tian announced she will make a solo debut in November at the Berlin Philharmonic in Germany - one of Europe's largest and most popular music halls.

"The pianist was awesome; her performance was very intense and she was passionate, we enjoyed it a lot," Stanley Etra, an IT project manager, said after the show.

"She (Tian) did a great job. The piece she performed is very difficult, and she was able to play it very nicely with the orchestra together..." said Andrew Bein, a publisher.