Graduating Student Recital • Xuanshan Cai, piano

A Birthday Concert For My Mom

Several days after April 27th will be my mother’s 50th birthday, so I want my final recital to be a gift for my mom. Without my mom’s encouragement and support, I can’t be I, who can start my Master of Music in America, and who dares to stand on the stage. I think the pieces I will play will show my mother’s life. The Haydn Sonata I will play is in a happy tempo, which is just like my mother’s carefree childhood. The Liszt Cantique d’amour reminds me of my mother’s love after she had my sister and me. Janacek On the Overgrown Path nos 1-5 is just like my imagination of a party for my mom. China Gates reminds me that the home’s gate is always open, and my mother is always there waiting for me.

Born in a family that values the cultivation of artistic skills, Xuanshan Cai started to play the piano at the age of 11. In 2016, Xuanshan went to Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in Aquaculture. In the meantime, she studied piano privately with Yu Liang, a staff pianist at the Xinghai Conservatory of Music. In 2021, Xuanshan was accepted by numerous graduate schools in the United States and the United Kingdom. She eventually decided further pursuing her piano career at Longy School of Music, where she currently receives guidance from Dr. Hugh Hinton.

As a pianist, Xuanshan has rich performance experiences. She successfully held several recitals in concert halls in the United States and China, namely Louis J. Roussel Performance Hall at Loyola University New Orleans, Wolfinsohn Hall at Longy School of Music, Pickman Hall at Longy School of Music, and Yamaha Concert Hall in Guangzhou. In 2022, she was invited to give the world premiere performance of Nostalgia for tuba and piano by Innocent Okechukwu in Pickman Hall in Boston.

Xuanshan also has abundant teaching experience. In 2020, she worked as a part-time piano teaching assistant at Guangzhou Tongxin Training Center. In 2017 and 2018, she worked as a part-time piano teacher at Qinyun Music and Art Center. She always teaches her students with patience and love.

Xuanshan enjoys challenging herself by participating in competitions. During the year of 2020, she won several prizes, including the Fifth Prize of Youth Group in the Final of the 2020 “Liszt Memorial Prizes” Hong Kong International Piano Open Competition, the Third Prize from Bach Advanced Group in the Global Online Selection Competition of the 2020 “Liszt Memorial Prizes” Hong Kong International Piano Open Competition, and The Most Popular Performance and the Best Performance in Ludwig Van Beethoven Internet Performance for Public Good launched by the Ministry of Education. Xuanshan’s previous awards include the Third Prize in Youth Group in the Final of the 2019 ‘Chopin Memorial Prizes’ Hong Kong International Piano Open Competition, and the Second Prize in Special Topic of Foreign Works Adult Group in the Guangdong Preliminaries Final of the 21st Santa Cecilia International Piano Competition in 2019.

Xuanshan is an alumna of the 2022 New Orleans Piano Institute, where she studied with Kevin Chance. She also had the opportunity to have a masterclass with Alan Chow.