A 13-year-old's musical talent soars beyond her years as she tells John Landrigan how she hopes to inspire people through playing the piano. Sylvia Jiang is like many teenagers. She smiles broadly and reveals braces. She can hold a conversation and giggles — a lot. But then she begins to play thegrand piano that dominates her family's living room and we are enthralled by her dramatic, yet elegant and sophisticated, rendition of Duetto by German composer Felix Mendelssohn. The expressive playing belies the 13-year-old's age. "It's like getting really deep into your emotions and it's fun to play,'' she smiles. "It's really awesome. I don't have a favourite piece, every piece is different.'' Like the 19th century prodigy, Sylvia composes her own music. She throws in a little impromptu melody between the classics. "Just joking,'' she says, almost apologetically. This week, Sylvia performed on a Steinway concert grand piano for the official launch of the Lewis Eady Charitable Trust for an audience of around 200 people, including Auckland City Mayor John Banks. Says the trust's chairman, John Eady, "Sylvia is an outstanding young pianist. When she is playing, she is a 40-year-old in a teenager's body. She has a very bright future in music if she chooses to follow this as a career.'' The Year 9 student at St Cuthbert College hopes her music brings enjoyment to people.
"When people watch, I hope to make their life that much better, or a little kid who is dreamless finds out this is something they would like to explore.'' The Lewis Eady Charitable Trust was formed on the 125th anniversary of the fourth-generation music store, Lewis Eady. It provides the Emerging Artist concert series, the Steinway House concert series and the Auckland Junior Music Contest. From 2010, the trust will organise and run the New Zealand International Piano Festival, bringing six international pianists here to perform and to conduct master classes with emerging artists. In the future, the trust hopes to offer more concert opportunities. It will also offer financial payouts when it has accumulated a fund to draw from. For more info see: www.lewiseady.co.nz
