Young pianist draws inspiration from Rachmaninoff

Zhang was introduced to music by his mother, who studied music at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, and started learning piano when he was 5 years old.

"I was not very interested in piano in the beginning because I had to practice for hours and couldn't go out to play sports games with friends," says Zhang.

But it was his teacher, Canadian pianist Sasha Starcevich, who Zhang studied with from 10 years old, that got the musical prodigy interested in his instrument.

"When I first played the waltz, I couldn't understand it. Then my teacher would dance for me in the class," says Zhang.

Like many young music learners, Zhang participated in and won many competitions, including the first prize at the Canadian Music Competition in 2006, the first prize at the 13th Annual Music Man Festival Piano Concerto Competition in Canada and the first prize at the Seattle Young Artists Music Festival in 2007.

At the age of 15, he was enrolled to study at Mannes College of Music in New York with a full scholarship.

In 2014, he obtained a master's degree from the Royal Music College, and was awarded the title of Young Steinway Artist.

About a year and a half ago, Zhang returned to his home country to launch his music career by embarking on a 20-city tour across China.

The same year, he performed at Chinese universities, including at Tsinghua University's Chopin: Magic Piano concert.

In 2016, he toured five cities, including Shanghai, Nanjing and Guangzhou.

Though classically trained, Zhang is open to a variety of music styles, such as jazz and electronic music.

What he aims to do is to compose his own pieces and perform onstage, just like Rachmaninoff.

If you go

7:30 pm, Dec 17; NCPA, No 2 West Chang'an Avenue, Xicheng District, Beijing; 010-6655-0000