Impromptu Piano Recital

ChuChu and I got a last minute invite tonight to attend a church member's daughter's piano recital. Apparently, she will be going to a piano competition in 2 weeks and her mother wanted to have an audience to simulate competition atmosphere. We finished our work in lab and hurried to their house. Their house is quite unique and different - unlike most of the American houses we've visited so far. Its layout is more like a traditional Chinese style with a center "courtyard" in the middle, and the rooms (bedroom, dining room, etc) surrounds the "courtyard". We sat ourselves down and the daughter came out to perform her pieces just like what you'd expect in a concert - except much more intimate atmosphere (there were like 8 of us total). She played the following three pieces: Beethoven (Sonata in C Minor, Op. 13 1st movement), Chopin (Fantasie Impromptu, Op.66), and Chopin (12 Etudes, Op.10 No.4 in C sharp minor). We were immediately captured by her presence and her skills - her performance was just superb. The last piece was of very high technical difficulty! We couldn't believe that she is only 13 yrs old and has already performed in a number of international settings (such as in Japan) and also with local symphony (Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra).

After her performance, we had a chance to chat more with her mother - who is very graceful, soft-spoken, and rather elegant. It turned out that this family are all musicians of some sort - the pianst's father is a world-renown erhu (two string fiddle, Chinese violin) player who performs around the world. His name is Xu Ke. The pianist' name is Xu Dau (or "a lot" in Chinese). Xu Ke has performed together with Yo-Yo Ma and countless other famous musicians. Inside their home, there were framed posters from his various performances in different parts of the world (mostly in Japan, it looks like). The mother is from Guanzhou province and majored in music - she is a singer. Both parents have lived for a long time in Japan and both of their daughters were born in Japan. The older daughter is the only one in the family who's not really into music as much, but apparently she can read 600 words per minute - and she loves to read books. They moved to Buffalo because it was the closest city to Toronto where this famous piano teacher resides and can teach her daughter.

Many languages are spoken in their household: parents speak mandarin to each other, but mother speaks Cantonese and Japanese also, and she speaks Japanese and Cantonese to each other, yet the two daughters communicate with each other in English...

My First Entry!

Hello Everyone -

I've been thinking about blogging for a long time - but thanks to my wife ChuChu, I finally went through with this and started my own blog! I am not sure if I'll have time to keep it up - but at least it's a start.

M