Zhao was performing Chopin in concerts at age 8
Melodie Zhao, age 15 (photo: Vera Makus)
Updated 7 March: link to review in Le Temps Geneva / Saint Prex, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Mélodie Zhao, age 15, will sit down at a grand piano at Geneva’s Victoria Hall Tuesday evening, to a sellout crowd of nearly 2,000 people, to interpret Chopin, in honour of his 200th birthday. It’s one of several Chopin events this week in Geneva which include 24 pianists from around the world, each interpreting one of his Etudes, also at Victoria Hall.
Zhao will perform the complete 27 Etudes (Op. 10 and Op. 25 and three without opus numbers) in one concert, a challenge rarely met by pianists.
“Ernesto”, president of Zamis OSR (Friends of the Suisse Romande Orchestra), which organized Zhao’s concert, calls her “phenomenal” and British classical pianist Andràs Schiff says she is “fantastic.” Ernesto noted in a recent letter to members of the group, inviting them to Tuesday’s concert, that “I will hardly insist on the extraordinary feat that performing all 27 of Chopin’s Etudes in one concert represents: it’s enough to say very few pianists are even up to this.”
Zhao’s relationship to Chopin is very special: at age 13 she became the youngest person to record his complete 24 Etudes with opus numbers, in the Tibor Varga Studios in Switzerland. At age eight she was already performing Chopin’s work in concert halls.
Her relationship to Geneva is also special, with her first completely solo recital at age 10 performed at the Palais de l’Athénée in Geneva, a programme of 70 minutes, with works from several periods.
She has been invited, since age 12, to perform at major festivals and concert series including, in Switzerland, the Davos Festival, Musiksommer am Zurichsee, and les Sommets du Classique in Crans-Montana.
Tuesday’s concert is a return trip to Geneva’s Victoria Hall, where she and Chopin have already enchanted audiences, notably in June 2009 when she played as a soloist with the Geneva Symphony Orchestra (Ed. note: YouTube videos are at the end of this article).
Melodie Zhao and sister Cadenza, at home (photo ©2010: Ellen Wallace)
Saint Prex pianist was Geneva’s youngest recipient of bachelor’s degree
Mélodie, who lives in Saint Prex and attended local schools while also studying from age nine at the Conservatoire in Geneva, is now the youngest student in the master’s degree programme at the conservatory. In 2009 she became the youngest person, at 14, to be awarded a bachelor’s degree by the canton of Geneva.
At the ripe old age of 15, with a demanding schedule of four to eight hours of music a day, six days a week, and a musical maturity uncommon for her age, she’s moved on to other composers.
Title: Lausanne cathedral Christmas concert
Location: Lausanne
Link out: Click here
Description: JC Geiser, the Lausanne cathedral’s noted organist, presenting a surprise programme with “Fireworks” for the annual New Year’s organ concert. Arrive early to ensure a place as this is always packed and no one is admitted after 22:45 for the midnight concert. Free, but a collection will be taken (suggested: CHF10, 15).
Start Time: 22:45
Date: 2009-12-31
Title: Lausanne cathedral Christmas concert
Location: Lausanne
Link out: Click here
Description: JC Geiser, the Lausanne cathedral’s noted organist, presenting Bach, Daquin and Dupré for the annual Christmas organ concert. Arrive early to ensure a seat. Free, but a collection will be taken (suggested: CHF10, 15).
Start Time: 17:00
Date: 2009-12-25
Basel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Austrian police are investigating a case of possible arson at a hunting lodge in Bach, Austria, near Innsbruck, that belongs to Daniel Vasella, CEO of phamaceutical giant Novartis. More than 100 firemen put out the blaze, which witnesses say broke out early 3 August out after a dull explosion was heard at the property. According to a Novartis spokesperson, a “professional fire accelerator” was used.
