NEW YORK, July 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese composer and pianist Zhihua Hu will present her ensemble and piano compositions on Monday in Carnegie Hall, New York City.
"I'm quite excited about it! This concert will be my first personal compositions and piano performance concert," said Hu, who was born in Shanghai, China and started to learn piano at the age of five and composition at 10, in a recent interview with Xinhua.
The concert, scheduled for 8 p.m. on July 9 at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall, will feature several of the young talent's recent piano and ensemble compositions in collaboration with award-winning musicians from all over the world, such as Feifei Yang, voice and Erhu; Fangtao Jiang, soprano;Xiaoming Tian, baritone; Martha Cargo, flute; Caleb van der Swaagh, cello.
Having achieved high grades in 2004 after being enrolled in Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Hu studied under the famous Chinese composer Gang Chen and Dr. Huang Lv and studied piano under pianist Yijie Niu. Then she continued her composition study in the school for Master of Music Degree.
She was accepted by Manhattan School of Music in New York in 2015 to continue her Master of Music composition study. she was under the guidance of Prof. Reiko Füting and pianist Kayoung An.
One of Hu's pieces "The Fantasy Of West Lake" was selected in 2013 to be a part of the "Young Composers, New Compositions Concert" at the Shanghai Spring International Music Festival.
In the same year her piano compositions, "Soul of Great Wall" and "Exploration," each won the San Carlo Excellent Piano Works Entry Award.
Another notable award came during the 5th New Music Week in Shanghai in 2012 where her chamber orchestra work, "Mind Moves with Consciousness" won Excellent Sight-Reading Composition Award.
In 2016, she was invited to compose a theme song, "Asia-Pacific Eagle," for "Asia-Pacific Lunar New Year Concert," performed in Capitol Hill, Washington D.C. and took part as the accompanist. Also, she was invited to participate in United Nation's "2016 ICCC International Student Design Competition Awards Ceremony and Concerts" and performed repertoires from classical Chinese and Western music with other musicians.
In 2017, one of her compositions "The Epitome of Musee du Louvre" was performed by the Manhattan School of Music Symphony Orchestra. That same year she earned her Master Degree from the Manhattan School of Music.
She was soon invited by the Asian Cultural Symphony Orchestra of USA to perform with famous singer Zun Huo, Shanghainese singer Bao Lin, Suona master Yazhi Guo and famous conductor Fei Fang at the Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center.