Epoch Times
counted tickets to watch Shakespeare, stand in front of the huge Turner and Canaletto canvases at the National Gallery or just go on long walks. Ray Bradbury once talked about “throwing stones down a well” and that every time you hear an echo from your subconscious, you know yourself a little better. That’s what living in London was like for me. You recently obtained a Graduate Diploma from the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music under the guidance of Professor Thomas Hecht. How has the teaching of Prof Thomas Hecht influenced you? I’ve worked with Prof Hecht since I was 11. He gave me a systematic, rigourous way of organising resonance at the piano and analysing a score, which was, paradoxically, immensely liberating and transformative. The goal of every good teacher is for their students to be self-reliant, and Dr Hecht has certainly given me the tools for that. Our working relationship has evolved over the last ten years, but his teaching continues to inspire and challenge me.
NEWS & PERSPECTIVES What are some of the preferred music pieces you like to play, and why? I enjoy playing a wide variety of music, like an actress taking on different roles and accents. Right now, for example, I’m learning Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Ravel, Charles Griffes and Leon Kirchner. Each one inhabits a completely different sound world. I’m also involved with the Asian Contemporary Ensemble, which commissions new works from composers from around the region. Are there any musicians, especially pianists, whom you admire and why? I admire Daniel Barenboim, for the intelligence and integrity of his music-making and his multifaceted career, and Martha Argerich who is a true force of nature. Murray Perahia and Mitsuko Uchida are definitely up there on my list too. Speaking of non-pianists, I’ll always cherish chamber music coachings with the violinist and conductor Gabor Takacs-Nagy whom I first met when I was just 15. He was kind, generous and so inspiring, and those encounters
september 5 – 18, 2014
made a huge impression on me. If you could collaborate with any artists – living or dead – whom would you choose and why? I’d love to have been at one of Dinu Lipatti’s recitals and I’d love to meet Julius Katchen, even just to have a chat! I wouldn’t dare dream of collaborating with them, but taking lessons from them would be amazing.
Abigail Sin performing at the Salle Cortot in Paris
You have toured Eastern Europe when you were only 14. Does travelling change your perspective on music and life? I suppose travelling can help a young person to be more selfaware and more curious about the world. There’s so much to learn from meeting new people, experiencing a different culture or speaking a different language. I can get around in French, but I’ve also had to rehearse chamber music entirely in Mandarin. I’ve definitely had some memorable adventures, from hitchhiking in Verbier to navigating through Yerevan with three Lithuanian boys and a lot of chocolate!
performance and why? I was performing the Chopin Preludes at a small venue in London and I spoke about how the music captured the various facets of our human experience, from joy and tenderness to grief and defiance. A man came up afterwards to thank me, telling me it was his deceased daughter’s birthday and that my playing and words had given him some comfort that day. That encounter reminded me to treat every concert as an important event, no matter where I’m playing and how many people I’m playing for.
Which is your most memorable
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