On 26 October, Ziying Wang, a Chinese vocalist and scholar, performed her third solo concert at the King’s College London Chapel. Ziying portrayed the concert’s unique blend of Eastern and Western vocal music and promoted the significance of cultural exchange. The idea behind the concert was to explore the universality of human emotions through music. She successfully showcases how these traditions, despite their differences, share universal elements of beauty, emotion, and expression.
The first half featured Mahler’s Ablösung im Sommer and Britten’s On This Island, which helped the audience connect with the music on a personal level. In the second half, Ziying presented traditional Chinese art songs, pieces like “Three Wishes of the Rose” and “Jasmine Flower” were iconic in Chinese culture and were even known in the West.
Ziying claimed that this concert was a significant step in her mission to bridge Eastern and Western musical cultures. Looking ahead, she plans to take this transcultural experience to other cities across the UK and encourage artistic interaction among cultures.
After the concert, we spoke with some audience members, and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Several audience members, including professionals from the music industry, shared how the concert beautifully bridged cultural divides. Acclaimed pianist Hao Yao described Ziying Wang’s voice as “captivating,” praising the attention to detail and emotional depth in her performance, particularly in Bellini’s Recitativo e Romanza. One professor from King’s College London referred to the concert as “a true feast for the ears,” highlighting how the performance combined the profound essence of Western classical music with the beauty of Chinese musical culture. Some other guests commented that it was “one of the finest cross-cultural concerts they had attended,” expressing eagerness to see Ziying Wang perform again. Many audience members, particularly the Western ones, remarked on the emotional impact of the Chinese art songs, especially the rendition of Jasmine Flower. Some were so moved that they began humming along with the melody.
The concert was cleverly designed to bridge these musical worlds, with Ziying’s exceptional vocal technique and emotional depth making each piece profoundly engaging. The integration of Western classical works with traditional Chinese art songs added layers of complexity, offering the audience a diverse and captivating experience. The audience resonated with the charm of the music and responded positively, reflecting the success of Ziying’s vision to translate cultures through the language of music. This concert was not just a feast for the ears, but a powerful statement of artistic exchange and cultural understanding.
Dr LESLIE HOWARD
Leslie Howard, DMus, MA, LMus, HonFZAM, Dip d’Onore, etc
[Concert Pianist, Music Critic, Composer, Musicologist, Conductor, President of the Liszt Society, former Member of Council of the Royal Philharmonic Society, Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Arts at Monash
University, and Visiting Professor at the Royal Academy of Music, Chetham’s School, Juilliard School,
Peabody Conservatory, Oberlin College, University of Melbourne, Buchmann-Mehta School Tel Aviv,
Istituto Liszt Bologna, etc.]
128, NORBURY CRESCENT, LONDON, SW16 4JZ
https://www.lesliehowardpianist.co.uk
Telephone: +44 20 8764 8364 Mobile: +44 7954 153 445 E-mail: [email protected]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Howard_(musician)
Leslie Howard
“The experience is beyond compare…his technique and taste are faultless, and his consistency, intelligence and brio create a towering monument to the music” – Diapason, France. Following his hugely successful 70th birthday concert in 2018, Leslie Howard returned to Wigmore Hall in 2019 celebrating 45 years of playing at this, his favourite venue. In the words of Director John Gilhooly “Thank you Leslie for your many fine recitals at Wigmore Hall for over four decades. It has always been a great joy to hear your performances.” 2019 also saw the release of one further CD of hitherto unrecorded pieces by Liszt, finally bringing the total to 100, and so extending the already unequalled accomplishment of the largest solo artist recording project in the history of classical music. (The new disc can be safely slotted into the famous complete Liszt boxed set which has been available from Hyperion Records since 2011.) This critically acclaimed project merited Leslie Howard’s entry in the Guinness Book of World Records, six Grands Prix du Disque, the Medal of St. Stephen, the Pro Cultura Hungarica award and a mounted bronze cast of Liszt’s hand presented by the Hungarian President. Leslie Howard has balanced his prodigious recording career with an international concert itinerary which has seen him performing regularly throughout the world for more than half a century, always with a repertoire that seeks to extend the audience’s experience and to challenge accepted hierarchies of received wisdom. He has appeared regularly with the world’s finest orchestras, and has also pursued a distinguished career as a chamber musician, partnering many of the greatest solo musicians and ensembles of our time. Since a tour of Bangkok and Hong Kong in early 2020, the onset of Covid-19 has confined his work to online performances, recordings, lectures and masterclasses. He resumed public performances at the end of July 2021 with yet another recital at his beloved Wigmore Hall: Schubert ‘Wanderer’ Fantasy and 5 major Liszt pieces.
Leslie Howard’s discography includes numerous world première recordings, such as Rubinstein’s and Tchaikovsky’s piano sonatas, Scandinavian piano sonatas, and his early recordings of Grainger’s music, reissued by Eloquence. He has also recorded Rubinstein’s Piano Quartets, his own 25 Etudes in Black and White, and Rakhmanino’s piano sonatas for Melba Recordings. With Mattia Ometto, he recorded Reynaldo Hahn’s complete works for two pianos and is working with Brilliant Classics on Liszt’s complete two-piano music. His latest solo release features Beethoven’s‘Eroica’ Variations. As a scholar, Howard has produced numerous Liszt editions, including 13 volumes for The Hardie Press and 9 Urtext scores for Edition Peters, praised for their rigor. Jonathan Del Mar lauded him as a rare combination of musical and scholarly excellence. Howard’s editorial work also includes reconstructions of Paganini and Bellini, and a standard two-piano score of Rakhmaninov’s 4th Concerto.
