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Wang Liang, principal oboist of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, performs at the Beijing Music Festival. [Photo/China Daily] |
Wang Liang clearly remembers a story that his late oboe teacher, John de Lancie, the former principal oboist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, told him years ago.
In 1945, De Lancie, then 24, and the principal oboist of the Pittsburgh Symphony, was posted in the village of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, as a soldier toward the end of World War II.
During one of his visits to Richard Strauss' home, he asked the German composer if he had ever considered writing an oboe concerto. Strauss, then 81, said no. But six months later, Strauss finished the Oboe Concerto in D Major, and the autograph of his score read: "Oboe Concerto 1945 suggested by an American soldier."
Wang, 36, is now the principal oboist of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. The Chinese-American performed Strauss' oboe concerto with the Qingdao Symphony Orchestra under the baton of conductor Zhang Guoyong during the ongoing Beijing Music Festival, to loud applause from the audience at the Beijing Concert Hall on Oct 18.
"With the story from my teacher, I have never felt so close to a great composer," says Wang, who also performed two other Strauss pieces, Serenade in E flat major for chamber orchestra and Symphony No 1 in D minor for large orchestra. Both works were completed by Strauss when he was 16.
They were performed in China for the first time. The three works trace Strauss' career, Wang says. In 2006, Wang became the youngest principal oboist for the New York Philharmonic.
According to Tu Song, program director of the Beijing Music Festival, Chinese audiences aren't familiar with Strauss, nor the flute-like oboe.
"For most Chinese audiences, the oboe score from the ballet Swan Lake is the most they know," says Tu. "We want to offer them a chance to know more about oboe works."
Compared to wind instruments, Chinese audiences are more familiar with the piano and violin, also because China has some musicians who play them internationally, he says, adding that seeing Wang's success, young Chinese musicians may aspire to become oboists.
After 10 years with the New York Philharmonic, Wang is a busy man. Besides four concerts each week with the orchestra, he also teaches at the Manhattan School of Music and New York University.
In the past few years, he has worked with a few Chinese symphony orchestras. He described his collaboration with the Qingdao Symphony Orchestra as a "homecoming".
Born in Qingdao in eastern China's Shandong province, Wang grew up listening to a lot of music: His mother was a singer and his uncle an oboist for the Qingdao Symphony Orchestra.
He learned to play the oboe at 7.
"My apartment is like a factory, which is scattered with tools. The difference between a good reed and a bad one makes all the difference," Wang says of his passion to also make an oboe.
Wang entered the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing when he was 13, and later received a full scholarship to study at the Idyllwild Arts Academy in California.
In 2003, he graduated from the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where he was taught by Richard Woodhams, the principal oboist for the Philadelphia Orchestra.
After struggling to find a job in the United States, Wang caught a break with the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra. Having already played for a symphony orchestra, he auditioned for the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic in 2006, and was accepted as principal oboist by both.
"New York had always been my dream city. I love the energy there," says Wang, whose apartment is near the Lincoln Center, close to the New York Philharmonic compound.
The New York Philharmonic will perform in Shanghai for the first time next summer.
