On 22 November, the Steinway Music Awarding Ceremony and Piano Concert was held in the new UIC University Hall. This event marked the official recognition of the establishment of UIC's new Steinway Music Centre. Additionally, being the 190th anniversary of Beethoven's death, this concert featured the composer's piano sonatas, introduced by Steinway artist and Xinghai Conservatory of Music Professor of Piano, Jingsong Xian, and performed by his protégés Yucheng Qin, Yihua Liu and Yuting Huang.
The awarding ceremony began with a warm speech delivered by the President of UIC, Prof Ng Ching-Fai, who welcomed the guests from Steinway. Prof Ng emphasized the significance of the Steinway Music Centre and the Piano Concert. He also highlighted that the occasion marked the beginning of the UIC Steinway Music Centre, and he hopes that this event and the newly established Centre can enrich students’ lives. After the speech, Prof Ng, along with the Dean of the Division of Culture and Creativity, Prof Aaron Chih-Yung Chiu, received the awarding of the Steinway Music Centre together.
The night of music began with the introduction of four sonatas presented by Jingsong Xian. The first one was F Minor followed by G Minor and G Major with two movements, and ending with G Major with three movements in succession. All the sonatas were performed passionately by his protégés.
“For most of the top schools, it is essential to invest in the education of arts and music,” said Prof Ng, after the concert. He was pleased with the new Steinway Music Centre coming into operation as Steinway will provide valuable new resources for UIC. Students from UIC can also have more internship opportunities at Steinway because of this new collaboration.
“We hope that through the establishment of the Steinway Music Centre in our school, our Music major programme will be able to enroll students in Mainland China in the coming year,” said Prof Ng. Prof Chiu thought highly of the concert and the operation of Steinway Music Centre in UIC, and looked forward to establishing a research institution in UIC in the near future.
UIC student, Hu Zhuoyan, said that she was impressed by the concert. She said the recent concerts made her feel relaxed and that they added more meaning to her life at UIC.
Reporter: Yin Lanjing (Year 1, IJ)
Photographers: Guo Rui (Year 2, CST), Liu Yilun (Year 1, IJ), Yao Zihong (Year 1, FST)
Editor: Samuel Burgess, Samantha Burns, Deen He
