Dannevirke student sharing a love for classical music

Shangrong Feng started learning piano at age five. Photo / Leanne Warr

Shangrong Feng wants to share her love of music.

The Dannevirke music student, who was this year's recipient of the Upper Hutt Concert Grand Piano Trust prize, said she was keen to help younger people learn what makes classical music so good.

Feng, currently a student at the New Zealand School of Music at Victoria University, came to New Zealand from China 10 years ago.

It was a picture of a church located in Hobson Street, Auckland, that drew her to New Zealand.

Shangrong Feng, with one of her tutors, Dr Jian Liu, gracing the lid of Upper Hutt's treasured Steinway concert piano. Photo / Supplied

In 2019, she began studying at Victoria University, and moved to Dannevirke two years ago.

Feng started learning piano with a Russian pianist when she was five.

"It was quite intense studying," she said.

She found New Zealand to be a very different environment from the intensive education in China.

"In China, you must do the courses that are in the system. In New Zealand, you can choose what you want to do.

"They have music, drama, art courses. In China, they didn't do that in the past. [But] it's getting better."

She felt New Zealand offered more opportunities and more support for students.

When she first came here, she wasn't able to find a music teacher who suited her.

"I didn't know anybody."

Deciding she wanted to discover different things in life, she stopped playing for five years – not even touching the piano.

She even considered acting, but then realised music was what she really loved.

Feng performed a solo recital earlier this month at Whirinaki Whare Taonga in Upper Hutt.

"It went really well," she said.

"It was an opportunity to play through my programme."

The programme included pieces from three of her favourite composers: Chopin, Schubert and Ravel.

"It's a way to share my understanding of those composers' music."

Feng said performing such pieces was about interpreting them and delivering that interpretation to an audience.

"We are delivering the composer's intention also."

Part of playing the music well involves studying the composer.

"You have to understand what kind of person the composer was – their personality, background, their experience in life," she said.

"For us [performers], we have to present their music. We're not a creator. We have to feel the connection between us and them."

Feng sees music as a way people can discover themselves.

"It's a way to connect with the past.

"For me, it's a really holy thing. I have to treat it like a god."

Feng was keen to share her love of music with the younger generation.

"If you go to a concert now, most of the audience are older people, so that's a problem we are facing."

She said a good performer could make people understand and even grow to like classical music.

While it is often felt classical music is a difficult genre to understand, it helps to start with listening to a recording of a well-liked piece - for instance, something by Chopin.

When she's not hard at work with her studies, Shangrong likes to relax with either a book or by listening to music on the record player. Photo / Leanne Warr

Like many other musicians, Feng is quick to say that she doesn't just exclusively listen to classical pieces.

"I also like jazz. Ravel – his harmonies are very jazzy."

As for her future plans, Feng is considering going overseas next year to study her second-year Masters degree before going on to a doctorate in musical arts.

She said she would like to be a teacher in the future, preferring that idea to becoming a famous concert pianist.

"It's too stressful."

That way, she can teach the next generation and share her knowledge and understanding.