A virtuoso in everything she undertakes
While pianist Jenny Q Chai’s fingers danced along the keyboard, those of a Chinese painter brushed along a screen to the melody she played.
The “duet” was part of the innovative multimedia contemporary musical piece “Calligraphy for Ziqi” at the Rising Artists Works program of the 20th China Shanghai International Arts Festival.
The piece was inspired by the story of a friendship between Yu Boya, an ancient player of the musical instrument guqin, and woodcutter Zhong Ziqi, who interpreted the music in his art.
The modern presentation featured a live piano on stage and a video of Chinese calligraphy.
It was a departure from the usual multimedia concert, where staff behind the scenes control the video pace. In this instance, Chai, 35, controlled both the audio and visual presentations with her fingers on the keyboard.
Small microphones were set in the piano, transforming every note into a signal to the computer.
Rather than simply react to notes played, the computer was programmed to “listen and predict” what was coming up, according to Jaroslaw Kapuscinski, the composer and multimedia designer for the program.
It took Chai only a month from her first encounter with the software to begin performances with the computer and related equipment. She now has much of high-tech, music-related equipment in her home.
“Everybody is talking about artificial intelligence these days,” she said. “It’s so cool to be part of such adventure in music. I just love it!”
Chai has never been one to shy away from adventures.
Born in 1983 Shanghai, she started piano lessons when she was 3, and was enrolled at the primary school affiliated to the Shanghai Conservatory of Music at age 7.
When she was 12, Chai won third prize at Sweden’s Kils International Piano Competition, and she went on to study at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.
Though fully prepared with a Haydn sonata for the competition in Sweden, she was informed only weeks before the exam that only Beethoven’s sonatas were accepted for the Curtis entrance exam.
“Though I had never played a complete piece by Beethoven before, I decided to teach myself Beethoven on the spur of the moment because I was already in the US without my tutor,” said Chai, “But amazingly, I was accepted because of my own interpretation of Beethoven’s Sonata No. 21, the Waldstein.”
Then 13, she became one of the youngest students at Curtis, together with now renowned Chinese pianist Lang Lang, who was 14.
“Neither of us was a typical good student back in China, but our natures were released at Curtis, which encouraged personality in students,” said Chai.
Just as everybody was expecting Chai to become a professional pianist after two years of study with virtuoso Seymour Lipkin, she quit music to follow a career path set by her parents.
She was taking courses at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania when, one summer at home in Shanghai, she heard a Chopin piece at a teahouse.
“It was a bad interpretation, but I couldn’t hold back the tears as the notes hit my ear,” Chai said. “At that moment, I realized that music was my destiny.”
She returned her musical studies, completing a PhD at the Manhattan School of Music. An accidental encounter with French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard, famed as an interpreter of Olivier Messiaen’s works, led her to Germany to study with Aimard.
“Aimard was the only master that I wanted to study with at that time,” said Chai. “I was willing to do anything to have her accept me as a student.”
She eventually returned to Shanghai and started her own piano education center, called Face Art.
“It occurred to me that there were so many Chinese children who planned to do advanced piano study abroad and I might be of some help because of my background,” said Chai.
She drew international teachers from Poland, the UK and the US and tailored courses to prepare students for music institutes overseas.
To help students gain that all-important stage confidence for competitions and exams, Chai organized regular concerts to give students performance experience. The next concert in the series will be held at the Shanghai Oriental Arts Center on Monday. Performers include a 5-year-old prodigy.
“Chinese students face course requirements different from those at schools in Europe or the US,” Chai said. “I hope we can be a bridge, or window, to give the children some insight into what they can expect abroad.”