On February 9, Beijing time, the thirtieth day of the Chinese New Year's Eve, at the Red Ball Art Festival held at the World Trade Center in New York, Steinway & Sons global artist Luo Wei dressed in white, and his unique "Gaze East" piano recital became one of the highlights of the festival. This is not only a piano recital, but also an immersive art experience that integrates music, installation art, stage design, and lighting.
▲In February this year, at the Red Ball Festival held at the World Trade Center in New York, Steinway & Sons Global Artist Luo Wei's "Gaze East" piano recital became one of the highlights of the festival.
From Shenzhen to the international stage
The pianist is named Luo Wei, a girl born in Shenzhen in 1998, she is not only an internationally renowned young pianist, but also a cross-border artist, poet and video blogger.
From Shenzhen to the international stage, it is not only talent, but also hard work and perseverance. After completing the national tour of "Gazing East" and a recital in the United States, Luo Wei returned to Shenzhen for a short rest and was interviewed by reporters, talking about her years of experience and feelings, and Shenzhen is the starting point of her artistic life.
When he was 5 years old, Luo Wei and his mother watched a ballet "Swan Lake" in Shenzhen, and they were "intuitively attracted by the artistic atmosphere" and began to learn piano. Unlike other piano children who need the supervision of their parents to sit down and practice, the little Luo Wei was determined to be a pianist at the beginning of his piano learning, and he put down his schoolbag and sat in front of the piano to practice every day after school.
"I didn't think about any other choice, I wanted to be a pianist. ”
She is a "genius girl" in the eyes of people, held a solo concert in Hong Kong at the age of 6 and a half, was admitted to Shenzhen Art School at the age of 9, was admitted to the Primary School Affiliated to the Shanghai Conservatory of Music at the age of 10 with the first place in the major, and was sent to the High School with the first place two years later, won the first prize at the 11th Chopin Youth International Piano Competition in Poland at the age of 11, and won the first prize in the 2nd Rachmaninov Youth International Piano Competition in Germany within a month. Shanghai's Xinmin Evening News called it "a double champion in two international piano competitions with different themes within one month".
▲ Luo Wei's performance scene.
At the age of 13, Luo Wei was admitted to the Curtis Institute of Music, a famous music school, with the first grade in his major, and won a full scholarship to study under pianist Gary Graffman and Professor MacDonald, becoming Lang Lang's younger sister.
Even for geniuses, the road to success is extremely difficult. Luo Wei, who studied in a foreign country, accompanied by the piano day and night, every Thursday piano class, all piano students have to perform on stage, the oldest of the classmates is 28 years old, many are already well-known pianists, 13-year-old Luo Wei is still not afraid to successfully complete the performance.
"I went to school at 8 a.m. to get the best piano room and practiced until I left school at 11 p.m. In order to learn more new repertoire during the holidays, one Christmas, when I walked out of the building after practicing, I looked back and saw that all the lights in the building were turned off, and the only light that was still on was the security guard's office. ”
"Ever since I was a child, my mom used to tell me, 'Time is life, and wasting time is wasting life'. ”
In her view, Shenzhen has an open and inclusive urban environment, and the young people who grow up here are very energetic, young and energetic, "Shenzhen is unique, I don't think it is like any other city, there is a lot of room for growth."
This slogan of Shenzhen has also accompanied Luo Wei's growth. "In the past 25 years, I have done as much work as I could, traveled many places, met many people, toured many cities, read all kinds of books, and practiced the piano for tens of thousands of hours. ”
▲ Luo Wei's performance scene.
"Restless" pianist
At the age of 17, Lowe won the favor of the president of Universal Music at a concert in New York, and soon became one of the few students in the Curtis piano department to sign with Universal Music. At the age of 19, Luo Wei released his first piano album "WEI LUO". The planning and design of the record, including song selection, costume design, editing, etc., have incorporated a lot of her personal feelings.
She reads Nietzsche, Lacan, Foucault, and she writes long reviews before concerts, hoping that the audience will better understand the story behind the music. The songs from her new album "Gaze" are distinctly personal, full of her philosophical reflections on modern society and the human predicament, and she translates her feelings into piano sounds with her hands, and broadcasts them to listeners.
Luo Wei feels that as a contemporary artist, she needs to reveal the times she lives in, "hoping that my performance can awaken, connect and heal the people of the present." Rowe says she sees this as an artist's social responsibility.
Although she is only 25 years old, Luo Wei has an energetic "old soul" in her body, her life plan is clear and definite, even in the impetuous society where materialism is rampant, she also maintains constancy and introspection beyond her age.
"I hope to spiritually influence people, especially the younger generation, through my interpretation and writing," Rowe said. I expect them to get value from me. Especially in the age of short videos, I still believe that it is necessary and urgent to rebuild the spiritual world, and classical music can become a source of some kind of spiritual power. ”
▲ Luo Wei's performance scene.
In addition to music, Luo Wei loves and carries out work related to artistic creation such as words and poetry. Her poem "To Prokofiev – Spirit and Flesh" was selected into the "Carriage Outside Time: Selected Poems of China 2021" published by the Chinese Poetry Association, and many of her essays have also been published in "Sanlian Life Weekly Philharmonic Magazine", "National Centre for the Performing Arts Magazine" and other publications. The modern immersive exhibition "Performing Animals", in collaboration with theBLANC in New York, was unveiled in Manhattan at the end of April 2023. On the evening of December 31, 2022, Luo Wei played a number of Chinese and foreign songs in Shenzhen Satellite TV's "'Friend of Time' Luo Zhenyu's New Year's Eve Speech", with an overall broadcast volume of over 100 million.
As the People's Daily commented on her: Luo Wei is a "restless" pianist, she is always exploring and breaking some inherent impressions of the outside world.
At the end of 2023, Luo Wei said in a New Year's Eve speech: "Maybe in the eyes of some people, I don't belong to the age group of stress, but I realized very early on that no matter how good the environment is, the road is under my feet, and only my own feet can walk." I am grateful to my family and my hometown of Shenzhen for giving me the courage to pursue my dreams and the soil to allow miracles to happen. ”
Lloyd
Born in Shenzhen in 1998, he won the first prize at the 11th Chopin Youth International Piano Competition in Poland and the first prize in the 2nd Rachmaninov Youth International Piano Competition in Germany at the age of 11, was admitted to the Curtis Institute of Music at the age of 13 with the first professional result, signed a contract with Universal Music at the age of 17, released his first piano album "WEI LUO" at the age of 19, won the Gilmour Young Artist Award in 2017, became a Steinway Global Artist in 2023, and released a new album "Gaze" in the same year.
Source: Jingbao APP
Reporter: Xie Chenxing
Photo: Courtesy of the interviewee
Editor: Chen Zhangwei