KILBOURN HALL, ROCHESTER NY-- I've been wanting to perform concertos with orchestra again for awhile. Actually, for a very long time, since the last time I performed Beethoven No.3 concerto in Long Beach in 2005. Luckily, I was able to experience it again, not only one but two concertos in the same program, with the help of over thirty talented and generous musicians from Eastman and Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. At 9pm, we first performed Mozart No.24 concerto. In Mozart, I performed my own cadenza in public for the first time. It is a truly mature, great piece and I already wish to perform it again. Intermission followed, and we began Schumann Piano Concerto, probably around 9:50pm. This was a concerto I've been wanting to play for many years. Not only it is Schumann (one of my favorite composers), but also the concerto to me is very genuine and pure. There is no faking or use of virtuosity for the sake of show-off. The third movement, which is one of the greatest movement of all piano concertos, was of course the trickiest to put together with the orchestra. Technically it is the hardest movement of the concerto on piano part, but the pure joy expressed in the movement helps one to forget about the difficulty. In the dress rehearsal, which was only three hours before the actual concert, the tricky hemiola section wasn't fully together. But on the stage, it was the best! Everything we did came out, and I felt we were really unified mentally too. It was such a special moment. Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who shared their talents and hours of rehearsals for this concert. Special thanks to Jerry Hou for generously taking on this grand concert. Many thanks to Dr. Elisi and all of my teachers who helped me prepare for this concert, and family members and dear friends Hannah and Tonia for coming from out of town to be here with me tonight (and for the epic outing afterward).
 |  |  |