It has not gone unnoticed that Canada has been dominating the world of classical piano. Yearly for the reason that starting of this decade, a Canadian has received a serious worldwide piano competitors. Bruce Liu of Montreal made headlines in 2021 by being the primary Canadian to win First Prize within the prestigious XVIII Chopin Piano Competitors. ‘
That very same yr, at age 16, Calgarian Kevin Chen turned the youngest ever winner of the Franz Liszt Worldwide Piano Competitors. This was adopted by his First Prize wins within the Geneva Worldwide Music Competitors (2022) and the Arthur Rubinstein Piano Grasp Competitors (2023). In September this yr, Jaeden Izik-Dzurko from Salmon Arm, B.C., received the Leeds Worldwide Piano Competitors.
The newest Canadian to take the classical world by storm is 17-year-old Ryan Wang from Vancouver. He’s the winner of BBC Younger Musician 2024, the famend competitors that has launched the careers of celebrated artists like cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason and violinist Nicola Benedetti.
Ryan is not any stranger to piano competitions. Earlier than his BBC win, he already has an extended checklist of worldwide awards on his resume, together with the Prix Corto from the École Normale de Musique de Paris. Though he doesn’t come from a musical household, he confirmed an early curiosity within the instrument. He began piano classes on the age of 4, and inside a yr, he was performing his first solo recital at Carnegie Corridor. The lovely five-year-old additionally charmed the world when he appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres present. Since then, he has been performing recitals and with orchestras throughout North America, Europe and Asia.
Ryan is at present in his final yr of secondary training at Eton School within the UK, the place he’s on a music scholarship, and acquired his Artist Diploma from the École Normale de Musique de Paris in France in Could 2024. We spoke to Ryan about his journey and up to date BBC win.
Rising Up in a Musical World
Naturally, the label of prodigy has adopted Ryan all his life. However, due to his dad and mom who all the time put his childhood first, he has taken that with a grain of salt and by no means let it form him. “My dad and mom actually shielded me from an excessive amount of publicity, and I’m actually glad they did as a result of I feel little one prodigies must develop and develop to turn out to be an artist.”
Not solely did he have an all-rounded childhood, Ryan feels he has not missed out on being an adolescent. He has many pursuits outdoors of music like working, snowboarding and enjoying basketball. Hanging out and bonding with folks is essential to him, particularly as a result of enjoying the piano may be very solitary.
The world has been watching Ryan since he was 5 years outdated. It’s apparent from the numerous YouTube movies of his early performances that he was a fearless little one who simply beloved the eye and being on digicam. As he will get older, he has developed extra self-awareness, understanding that “persons are watching”. To assist along with his nerves, his technique is to, “give attention to the music and what I wish to say to the viewers.”
Moreover his academics, Ryan is impressed by many pianists. Somebody he particularly seems to be as much as is Singaporean American pianist Kate Liu, who received the Bronze Medal on the 2015 Chopin Piano Competitors. “I feel she has a really distinctive inventive voice. Her music is extremely touching. I watched her as soon as in particular person, and it was simply unimaginable what she does.”
The BBC Younger Musician Competitors
Ryan feels that competitions have helped him develop as an artist and as an individual. “I’ve needed to study quite a bit about myself via doing competitions as a result of they actually push you to the restrict.”
Of all of the competitions Ryan has taken half in, the current BBC Competitors was his most memorable. “The BBC Competitors is very revered within the UK. It’s the greatest competitors on the planet for younger folks.”
The 5 rounds of the competitors lasted about six months. He took miniatures of his recital applications and put them into brief applications for every spherical. For the ultimate spherical, he selected to play Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2. “I put aside 2 weeks in my summer season holidays to study the Rach Two, to actually get to know the piece effectively.
“Rach Two is simply so lovely and has one of the best melodies. It simply matched what I wished to say, and I felt it captured my inventive voice. I like romantic music. And Rachmaninoff actually simply spoke to me.”
Famend Trumpeter Alison Balsom, one of many BBC Competitors judges, praised Ryan for his “extraordinarily uncommon skill to speak one thing other-worldly — and embody the music,” which, together with “his flawless method, he was capable of reveal his soul with such honesty […] it’s exhilarating on any stage to listen to an adolescent categorical this stage of artistry.”
His Musical Voice
When requested about how he approaches the music and connects along with his viewers, Ryan says he first thinks in regards to the aesthetics. He typically has sturdy, nearly cussed concepts about his interpretation of a chunk. “I do know what I wish to do with the piece. I all the time comply with my instinct, my very own emotions,” he says.
“If you concentrate on the way it impacts you, and the way it modifications your life, then it would come. It would present via your music, and as soon as you discover that, that’s your inventive voice. When what the music means to you, it would come via within the enjoying, and thru to the viewers as effectively. And I feel what makes somebody’s music touching or thrilling is that voice.
“On the finish of the day, music is about magnificence and sharing feelings. I feel musicians take note of very small particulars, and it’s very straightforward to get caught up in them. However if you happen to have a look at the large image, it’s all about magnificence.
“You all the time have to review the rating, and it’s important to respect the composer. However in the long run, it comes from inside you. It’s about how you’re feeling in your coronary heart and soul. Should you don’t comply with that, your enjoying received’t be trustworthy.”
Ryan Wang performs Chopin Nocturne in B main op. 62 no. 1 on July 30 2024:
Subsequent Steps
Despite the fact that Ryan can be graduating from secondary faculty subsequent yr, he has not selected his subsequent strikes, though he appears to gravitate in direction of staying in Europe. Proper now, his focus is on performing as a lot as he can.
He’s set to carry out in Toronto on January 5, on the Li Delun Music Basis’s New 12 months’s Live performance, by which he’ll play Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Toronto Competition Orchestra. Extra engagements within the UK and France are to comply with within the new yr. As well as, Ryan hopes to foray into performing in continents like South America and Africa that he has not but set foot in.
Ryan is very drawn to the music of Chopin. His debut album is a set of Chopin preludes that had been recorded reside from a efficiency in Bordeaux. Despite the fact that he’s tight-lipped about future recordings, he hinted that they’re within the plans. Apart from Chopin, he additionally loves compositions by Schubert and Liszt, and is a fan of Baroque works from Handel and Scarlatti. He wish to uncover and carry out extra music by Schubert and Brahms.
Ryan is actually an inspiration to many younger pianists. When requested about his recommendation to them, he replies, “I feel it’s very straightforward for younger gamers to be swayed by totally different opinions in music, as a result of music is so subjective. However if you happen to really feel passionately about one thing, you need to take heed to your individual voice, as a result of that’s how artists are made. Music is an artwork and artists ought to all the time be inventive. And, so long as you take pleasure in it, the viewers will take pleasure in it as effectively.”
- Ryan Wang will carry out on the Li Delun Music Basis’s New 12 months’s Live performance on January 5, 2025, on the George Weston Recital Corridor, Meridian Arts Centre in Toronto. Get tickets and extra data [HERE].
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Denise Lai is a Physiotherapist and School Professor. She is an alumnus of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir and a rusty piano participant.
