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