Following the 18th Chopin International Piano Competition in October 2021, Liu Xiaoyu, a young Chinese pianist in Canada, is a blockbuster.
Before he could taste the taste of the championship, Liu Xiaoyu's life was pushed onto the fast track. On the night of the award, he was pulled to talk about his next performance plans and found that he would not be able to return home for the next few months. And the performance plan is also suddenly scheduled for 2023.
Recently, Liu Xiaoyu, who is preparing to perform in Seoul, was interviewed by reporters through online video. Talking about the changes after becoming a champion, he said, "Frequent performances are something I didn't think about, I may have dreamed of flying everywhere before, but I was a little anxious after it actually happened." Suddenly so crazy, I need to slowly adapt and get used to this new rhythm. ”
Liu Xiaoyu, 24, was born in Paris and grew up in Montreal, but his parents are Chinese, they return to Beijing twice a year, and their ties with China have never been severed. The different cultural backgrounds of the East and the West make Liu Xiaoyu more inclusive and more receptive to things that are not the same as himself. "Learning music, tolerance is very important. My diverse upbringing and educational backgrounds have made it easier for me to embrace different cultural perspectives. ”
The relaxed and free education of his parents has also allowed Liu Xiaoyu to develop a positive and optimistic personality and a wide range of hobbies, "My idol is not a pianist, but Chaplin, who likes to express negative things in an optimistic and positive way, which I appreciate very much." ”
Winning formula: outside of piano skills Mentality is very important
The Chopin International Piano Competition is one of the most famous piano competitions in the world, known as the "Piano Olympics". After winning the Xiao Competition Championship, Liu Xiaoyu officially started his career as a pianist.
Due to the epidemic situation, The Shaw Race was postponed for one year. At a time when many people were negative because of the epidemic, Liu Xiaoyu really settled down. "During the epidemic, I have reduced a lot of outdoor activities and my heart is quieter. During that time, I read Chopin's books and letters, and then read the scores, and I had a deeper understanding of music. ”
Talking about the magic weapon of winning the game, Liu Xiaoyu believes that in addition to piano skills, mentality is very important, "As long as I can ensure that I can show everything I usually prepare, the closer to the usual good state, the better." "Before the competition, Liu Xiaoyu had not been on stage for more than a year, and in order to ensure his competitive state, he usually imagined himself on the stage when practicing the piano, mobilizing his imagination of sound and space." I've actually played hundreds of times in my head where I've played, so that when I actually get on stage, there won't be such intense tension and pressure. In addition, Liu Xiaoyu also has a trick is that he has not paid much attention to the outside world since the beginning of the game, and has been immersed in his own world. Maintaining such concentration makes Liu Xiaoyu's mood quite stable. Playing Chopin must have improvisational parts, Liu Xiaoyu has been keeping his state focused on the game, until before going on stage, he can still find new things in the score.
Many viewers who watched Xiao Sai's live broadcast believed that Liu Xiaoyu's performance was very stable, while he himself thought, "I belong to the passionate player, so I especially need to control my emotions after I take the stage." Looking back at the video of the competition, Liu Xiaoyu will still find that he still has many deficiencies, "this may be the charm of art."
Since he has not been on stage for more than a year, the impression left by this competition on Liu Xiaoyu is more of enjoyment than nervousness. Liu Xiaoyu's repertoire is bright in general, especially the two early Works of Chopin, "Mazurka's Whirling" and "Don Juan Variations". Liu Xiaoyu said, "My personality is optimistic and positive, so the Chopin I presented as a young man is very much in line with my personality. Liu Xiaoyu was 24 years old when he participated in Xiao Sai, which is exactly the same age as Chopin's early works. "For Chopin's early works, to express myself is to express Chopin, without special study, but his late works, more need to experience the rich emotions and depth of the heart."
The Path of Learning the Piano: Loose Freedom I choose to be responsible
Perhaps for many parents of piano children, it is difficult to imagine that Liu Xiaoyu, who can become the champion of the world's top piano competition, has never had the pressure to practice. He grew up in a very relaxed and free environment, his parents' education was very "Buddhist", and whether he played the piano or not was completely decided by Liu Xiaoyu himself.
"I'm not a child prodigy. I learned the piano relatively late, starting from learning the electronic keyboard, and it took several years to buy a piano. I grew up learning music without pressure, mainly based on the patience of teachers, my parents never forced me to play to what extent, I started playing for 15 minutes, 20 minutes a day. After that, my interest in music may also be related to this relaxed and free environment. "Thanks to the relaxed and free growth environment, Liu Xiaoyu is optimistic and cheerful, and has a wide range of hobbies. In Liu Xiaoyu's words, playing the piano, like playing ball, chess, and swimming, is just one of his many hobbies. And he always looks at things from a positive and well-intentioned point of view.
To be able to walk to the stage of Xiao Sai, the level of the players can be said to be very outstanding, but today's results, Liu Xiaoyu concluded, "Technology and music have been inseparable, to a certain extent may be spelled is the aesthetic and understanding of art, which is related to the growth environment and the things that are exposed to them from childhood, these are the factors that shape personal style, and music and personal style are inseparable." I have many hobbies, and the interaction between hobbies, coupled with the fact that I did not have a particular rush to learn the piano, may make my music appear more natural. ”
Of course, the process of practicing the piano has been very hard, and the young Liu Xiaoyu has also thought about giving up, "When I was fifteen or sixteen years old, there was a time when I didn't want to play the piano, and then I left for a while, and I figured it out and came back to continue practicing. During this period, his parents gave Liu Xiaoyu enough respect and space to let him decide the future path for himself. Since childhood, my father has constantly instilled a thought with Liu Xiaoyu, "Life is your own, you have to be responsible for yourself, no one can replace you." Young Liu Xiaoyu did not understand his father's meaning, as he grew older, Liu Xiaoyu gradually understood his father's good intentions, "I can now understand my father's meaning." Choosing the piano is my own decision, no one can replace me to feel my own life, I am responsible for myself. ”
Before winning the championship, Liu Xiaoyu's life was more like a student, studying, practicing, swimming, everything was very regular. After winning the championship, Liu Xiaoyu's performance was full of schedules, and he also became a trapeze artist, a performance all over the world, "Every day to face all kinds of trivial and troublesome things, to adapt to the jet lag, there is not so much time to practice, more is to use new practice methods, practice in the head." For Liu Xiaoyu, a new topic is to "adapt to the new rhythm and find a way to find a balance between self-growth and performance." However, Liu Xiaoyu is still very much looking forward to returning to China to perform as soon as possible, "Before returning to China was winter and summer vacations, what I missed most was delicious food and felt the vitality of vitality." I returned to my country for the first time after the competition, and I don't know where to perform, but I am looking forward to returning to my country to perform as soon as possible. ”
Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Tian Wanting
Editor/Bow Lifang