An evening in with Sylvia Jiang, piano concerto competition prizewinner, online

It is no surprise that Hastings International Piano (HIP)’s An Evening In with… concert series has been a success. Innovative culture is always welcome – and now more so than ever with theatres and cinemas closed due to  Covid-19. HOT’s Lauris Morgan-Griffiths is pleased that the series continues this Friday, 24 April, with Sylvia Jiang, a prizewinner at the 2019 Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition.

Sylvia Jiang is a young pianist from New Zealand currently studying at the Juilliard School with Robert McDonald. She has been hailed by critics as a “gifted young pianist of genuine substance” and “New Zealand’s most notable young emerging pianist.”

An attachment to Hastings

Although Sylvia lives in New York, she evidently has an attachment to Hastings as she also took part in HIP’s USA fundraiser in New York last summer. And she came back in February for the Hastings International Piano Festival 2020 to perform at the White Rock Theatre in the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s gala concert.

On Friday, as part of the online concert series, her programme will be Haydn’s  Fantasia in C major, Liszt’s Petrarch Sonnet 104 and Prokofiev’s Toccata Op.11.

Sylvia is a keen collaborator and particularly interested in multi-disciplinary collaborative work. She was invited to be a featured soloist in The Kennedy Center’s Ballet Across America with Dance Theatre of Harlem and Miami City Ballet where she worked with choreographer Pam Tanowitz on a new commission combining both dance companies. This year she is hoping to join Dance Theatre of Harlem as a collaborator in their 2020 season at New York’s City Center.

The Evening in with… performance begins at 8pm on 24 April. It is available on HIP’s Facebook page and website.

Supporting young musicians

HIP, the charity responsible for the Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition and the Hastings International Piano Festival, launched its online concert series to support the careers of their prizewinners in this time of national crisis.

In these times when the livelihood of our musicians is at risk, with engagements being cancelled and studies on hold, this series aims to provide an income to the young competition prizewinners as well as offering HIP supporters and the wider public something to look forward to at the end of the week.

The concerts are free to view, but viewers are invited to make a voluntary donation to Hastings International Piano Engagement Fund, or choose to join as a Friend whilst watching.

These donations help to continue the organisation’s work supporting young pianists as well as its engagement projects offered to the young people of Hastings and the surrounding area. This includes free tickets to events as well as workshops, school visits and inspirational talks from visiting artists.

Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition

The Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition is an internationally-renowned competition for young concert pianists from around the world, attracting 170 applicants in 2019 across global auditions, 40 of whom came to compete in Hastings. Their prize: the opportunity to perform with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on the two-night final and to win a first prize of £15,000. The competition returns in February 2021.

A major success of the festival has been the growth in young audiences across the region enabled to experience the festival, with the under-21 ticket scheme devised to provide free tickets for performances and a hugely popular free interactive piano concert for younger children.

The music education programme provided over 1,000 children with an opportunity to attend youth workshops, performances and master-classes, provided by many of the headline artists.

 

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