In Monday’s (5/18) Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Andrew Druckenbrod reports from Beijing, where he is on tour with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. “The Pittsburgh Symphony’s concerts in mainland China on this Asia tour have special meaning for four members of the orchestra—assistant concertmaster Hong-Guang Jia, cellist Chang Zheng (Adam) Liu, violinist Rui-Tong Wang and violist Meng Wang. All were born here. … Each musician studied at China’s top music school, Central Music Conservatory in Beijing, a place where nothing substitutes for hard work. Meng Wang, the youngest of this group at 29, took up my offer to visit the conservatory again. It was his first real visit to the school in more than 10 years. … Born in Sheng-Yang in 1954, Jia was studying at Central Conservatory when [Isaac] Stern made his historic 1979 tour of the country, only a few years after the Cultural Revolution had ended. … Jia is well-known in China and gave interviews to the Chinese press while here. In October, he will be honored in a concert that commemorates the influence of the Stern visit to China.”
Posted May 18, 2009
