Class of 2025
B.A. in Music: Piano Concentration, Minor in Psychology
It is my great honor to receive the Benenson Award for the second time. This past summer, I used this funding to pay the tuition of Northern Light Music Festival (NLMF) and Vivace Music Festival. As a music major concentrating in piano performance, I greatly appreciate Benenson Award’s support, which enabled me to gain musical inspirations outside of campus, to be exposed to different pedagogical ideas and to discuss music with other serious student musicians, who soon became my friends and might become colleagues in the future. At both festivals, I played in masterclasses, lessons, and student recitals.
My highlights at NLMF were the masterclass and lesson with Professor Douglas Humpherys, a renowned faculty at Eastman School of Music. In our lesson, he connected the singing quality in Chopin’s Polonaise Fantaisie with Italian opera; In the masterclass, he pointed out Mozart’s themes were often operatic and singable, while Beethoven’s themes were symphonic and should be played with a conductor mindset, which I found very refreshing. The lesson with the legendary 89-year-old Mikhail Voskresensky was vibrant and interesting as well. To help me feel the iconic Polonaise rhythm, he marched with me in the classroom. At NLMF, I performed the complete Beethoven Piano Trio Op.1 No.3 in Copper Top church in Duluth, Minnesota. The week-long rehearsal with new chamber mates was challenging, for the piece had four movements and was more than 30 minutes long. However, I was happy that I became friends with talented musicians, and learned to better collaborate musically through this process.
During the 10 days at Vivace, I observed masterclasses given by more than 10 different professors and played in 5 masterclasses taught by Christopher Guzman from Bienen School of Music, Joseph Rackers from Eastman, Jerome Lowenthal from Juilliard, Yakov Kasman from Alabama University and Thomas Sauer from Mannes School of Music. The experience allowed me to compare the contrast different teaching methods and evaluate which would be the most helpful one for me, and specifically for my next stage of study. During the week, I also made friends with serious pianists from different conservatories, whose love and pursue for music I very much resonated with. We had a great time discussing music on a profound level as well as offering each other suggestions on repertoire, choice of school and possibilities of career path.
2024-2025 academic year would be especially important for me, because I will be applying for a master’s degree in piano performance. It is greatly appreciated that Benenson Award allows me to meet different professors and students from music schools that I would love to go to after Duke.