Circle of Inspiration – Pianism with an Orchestral Pallette
Chopin said “Beethoven challenges the universe. I only try to express the soul and the heart of man.” Yet, Chopin himself was known as an innovator on the piano and he created a whole new world of piano music. His piano etudes inspired both Debussy and Kenji Bunch to write their versions of piano etudes. In the meantime, Debussy was also inspired by Beethoven’s orchestral writing.
Here you can hear three major piano solo works which have a rich orchestral sonority: Beethoven’s iconic variations on Eroica, with the same theme which he eventually used in his third symphony; Debussy’s picturesque Estampes is as colorful as a full orchestra work, and creates many layers of texture to the sound as if coming from a variety of instruments; Chopin’s Grande Polonaise Brillante was originally written for piano and orchestra, and it certainly leaves us with a grand and glorious sound image even in this solo version.
Ying Lin was born in 1996 in Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province, China. She started playing the piano at the age 6. When she was 7 years old, Ying won the First Prize in the First China Youth Music Competition which aimed at electing new performing artists for professional piano playing. Since then, Ying was regarded as a talented young musician and started giving concerts in the cities of Zhejiang Province, such as Hangzhou, Ningbo. Meanwhile, Ying began her piano study with professor Dan Shao.
From 2004 to 2008 Ying was the winner of Wenzhou City Arts Festival musical competition. When she was 11 years old, she won The 2007 Shanghai Yangtze River Delta Invitational Youth Piano Division Second prize.
In 2007, Ying was admitted to the Middle School affiliated to the Central Conservatory of Music and continued to studying with professor Dan Shao. During her studying Middle School of the Central Conservatory, Ying not only developed her piano playing skill and musical knowledge on theory and history, but also expanded her repertoire. In addition, Ying took part in the school concerts for the exemplary students and was selected to play in the master classes held by the professors and pianists from the conservatories in Germany, Russian and United States.
In 2013, Ying participated in the Michigan International Piano Festival, where she also won the Second Prize of International Youth pianist competition professional group B First prize. She also won Beijing Music Festival professional group award Second prize in 2014 and was invited to perform at Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing. In 2016, she graduated The Middle School affiliated to the Central Conservatory of Music.
And in 2017, she decided to go to USA and studying in Longy school of Music of Bard College. She studied with professor Rieko Aizawa at the school. During six years at Longy, she is very honored to have worked with many outstanding instrumentalists and vocalists in chamber music. She was constantly exploring the compositions and styles of each composer. She learned that music is not only about technique, but more about expressing the composer’s soul and music through her performance.
