Overtures of greatness

By Chen Jie (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-13 09:47

On July 17, 2003, the renowned American pianist and Johann Sebastian Bach specialist, Rosalyn Tureck (1914-2003), passed way. Tureck had dedicated her life to Bach, both as a performer and scholar. Six years later, Sheng Yuan, Tureck's only Chinese student and the leading Bach performer in China, will start a five-part Bach Cycle, on the anniversary date July 17, to commemorate his teacher.

The Bach Cycle will include other four concerts, on Sept 18, Dec 11, March 26 and July 28 in 2010.

On every Saturday before each of the five concerts, or July 11, Sept 12, Dec 5, March 20 and July 17 next year, Sheng will give a lecture about Bach and his music at the Forbidden City Concert Hall.

Born in Beijing in 1972, Sheng began to play the piano with his mother at age 5 and later at the Central Conservatory of China. In 1991, he gained a scholarship to Manhattan School of Music in New York where he earned a Master of Music degree in 1997.

In New York he was fascinated with Bach and became Tureck's pupil for two years.

"My teacher at Manhattan School of Music said I played Chopin as well as anyone but I could not play Bach as well as I play Chopin. He told me Tureck was the best Bach interpreter, so I turned to Tureck to learn Bach," Sheng says.

"Bach is the hardest composer to play. He thought only about the music, never the musician. Your two hands have to play three, four or five completely different themes going on at the same time. The structure is so complicated you can have a memory glitch onstage. But it is what fascinates me and attracts me to play," Sheng says.

He recalls that Tureck was invited to give a lecture at Manning School of Music in New York on July 17, 2003. But the 89-year-old pianist could not make it because of deteriorating health. So the organizer invited some of her students, including Sheng to give a concert to substitute for Tureck. Sheng played Bach's Italian Concerto. Some 10 minutes after the concert, they got the news that their teacher passed away.

So, for the first concert of the Bach Cycle on July 17, Sheng will play the Italian Concerto to commemorate the legendary Bach interpreter.

7:30 pm, lecture on Saturdays from July 11, concert on July 17, Sept 12, Dec 5, March 20 and July 17 next year

Forbidden City Concert Hall inside the Zhongshan Park. 6559-8306, 6559-8285

中山音乐堂