Hitting the right notes

When pianist Zhang Shengliang, 20, was in Beijing recently ahead of the release of his new album, he showed that he has lost none of his old flair. Chen Nan reports.

The Xiamen-born pianist Zhang Shengliang, better known by his stage name Niu Niu, a derivation of his childhood nickname Niuniu, first showed his music talent at the age of 3 by playing a piece from John Thompson's Easiest Piano Course, without anyone teaching him. And he held his first solo recital a few weeks after his sixth birthday, with a program including a Mozart piano sonata and a Chopin etude.

At age 8, he became the youngest student in the 85-year history of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.