Zhu Xiao-Mei
| Zhu Xiao-Mei | |
|---|---|
| Born |
1949 (age 66–67) Shanghai, China |
| Origin | Beijing |
| Genres | Classical |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments | Piano |
| Years active | 1957–present |
Zhu Xiao-Mei (Chinese: 朱晓玫; pinyin: Zhū Xiǎoméi, born 1949) is a Chinese classical pianist and teacher, now based in Paris, France.
Career
Zhu Xiao-Mei was born in Shanghai in 1949. Her music studies started early, and she played on Beijing radio and television by the age of 8. Two years later, she entered into the National School of Music for exceptionally gifted children,[1] and also attended the Central Conservatory of Music.[2]
The Cultural Revolution interfered with her progress and she spent five years in a working camp in Zhangjiakou.[1][3]
Zhu left China for the United States in 1979, joining the New England Conservatory in Boston and gaining a master's degree in piano performance in 1985.[3] She was hired to teach piano at the Brattleboro Music Center, Brattleboro, VT and she lived with Mary Hepburn and Ryan Ostebo in Saxtons River, Vermont for 18 months. After gaining US citizenship, she moved to Paris. She gave her Paris debut recital in 1994.[3] She teaches at the Conservatoire de Paris. She has given concerts in Europe, Russia, South America and Australia and has appeared at numerous festivals.[1]
Zhu Xiao-Mei's recordings include:
- the Goldberg Variations, The Well-Tempered Clavier (Book II recorded first),[4] The Art of Fugue , complete Inventions and Sinfonias (Bach) and complete Partitas of Johann Sebastian Bach
- Davidsbündlertänze and Kinderszenen by Robert Schumann
- sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti
- works for piano four-hands by Franz Schubert, with Alexandre Tharaud.[1]
Her repertoire also includes works by Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.[2]
Zhu has published her own memoir, The Secret Piano: From Mao's Labor Camps to Bach's Goldberg Variations (trans. Ellen Hinsey).[5]
André Leblanc's novel for children The Red Piano is based on Zhu's story and was written after meeting her, but Leblanc has pointed out that is not her biography and is a work of fiction.[6]
Recordings (Excerpt)
- CD: Bach: Die Kunst der Fuge, 2014, Accentus Music
- Vinyl (Double-LP): Bach: Die Kunst der Fuge, 2015, Accentus Music
- DVD: Bach: Goldberg Variations including the documentary by Michel Mollard: The Return is the Movement of Tao, 2014, Accentus Music