Piano Concert Review

On April 23rd, 2011, I went to Simon Sun's concert at Presbyterian Church, Williamsburg. Simon Sun is a senior at the College of William and Mary majoring in Neuroscience and music. He has played piano for almost seventeen years and was a finalist in the Young Artists International Piano Competition. I was so impressed by his performance on that day, because I have started to learn piano at an early age also, but I could never be as good as he is. Simon is a skillful, dynamic, and energetic player.

With a handsome appearance, Simon bowed to audience for a second and started to play. He has played five big pieces of music totally. The first piece, China Gates by Adams John, was a dynamic one. It's all about changing modes as it passed through each "gates". In Simon's performance, I could feel the changings in it. I think it's important to attract audience with dynamic changings. Then, he played Piano Sonata Op. 57 in F minor by Beethoven Ludwig v. It's a long piece with three movements. Simon was not playing the piano but actually controlled the piano. His figures moved fast and flexible. Sometimes, the right arm was crossed the left arm easily. Also, Simon was a good conductor. He has conducted a small symphony orchestra and a choir group in the concert. It's important to apply his piano experience on other music related areas.

I have read a book called Outlier last year, it is said that once people have practiced one skill for more than ten thousand hours, they would be perfect at that skill. So does Simon, I guess he must both practice very hard during the past seventeen years and is a talented person.