NTD Piano Competition Finalists Say They Experienced the ‘Sacred Gratitude’ of the Music

The semifinals of NTD’s 7th International Piano Competition concluded on Oct. 18 in New York with five contestants advancing to the finals.

The semifinalists were required to prepare a commissioned piece called “Holy Grace,” which was rearranged from one of the vocal pieces composed by the artistic director of Shen Yun Performing Arts.

The contestants said that the technical challenge of the commissioned piece was to create the effect of an orchestra on the piano, so they tried to mimic many sounds of Chinese instruments on the keys. At the same time, in the process of learning and performing this piece, they experienced the “extraordinary realm,” “profound wisdom,” and “sacred gratitude” behind the music, they said.

Taiwanese contestant Tang-Hsing Lien was the first to perform. Lien said that since “Holy Grace” is a brand-new composition, he spent more than a month preparing for it. During the performance, he fully immersed himself in the piece to the point that he stood up from the piano bench several times.

“I want to do my best to express my understanding of it,” Lien said.

Lien also gained deep insights into the meaning behind the piece.

“The composer used many high notes to symbolize a sense of ‘transcending all worldly matters,’ something extraordinary and unworldly,” he said.

Contestant Ching-Yi Lin from Taiwan said that playing “Holy Grace” was like playing a piece about a person’s life.

“To me, this piece is about the Creator, who created us and let us come down to the human world to learn a lesson,” said Lin. “There are some waves in the middle part of the composition, and there may be some more magnificent moments, which are all experiences of life.”

He said that as we progress through life, gratitude is the ultimate lesson we learn.

Another contestant from Taiwan, Shih-Yeh Lu, shared that the commissioned piece gave him a very spiritual feeling.

Robert Neumann, a contestant from Germany, shared his thoughts on what it takes to deliver a successful performance.

Although musicians can play very expressively, it takes a lot of control and technique to convey what the piece is saying.

Neumann said that to play expressively, the performer has to forget about self and focus on the music.

Qin Yuan, a Shen Yun composer who arranged “Holy Grace,” attended the event.

“The contestants gave me a great surprise, and I feel that I learned a lot,” Qin said. “They come from different ethnic backgrounds and life experiences, each person’s understanding of music, insights into life, and artistic realm are different. Therefore, I saw a richness in their expressions of the piece today that far exceeded my imagination.”

NTD Photo — Robert Neumann from Germany performs at the semifinals of NTD’s 7th International Piano Competition at the Merkin Hall of Kaufman Music Center in New York on Oct. 17, 2024. (Zhang Xuehui/The Epoch Times)

The finals will be held on Friday and the winners’ concert and awards ceremony will be held on Saturday and will be open to audience members and livestreamed on the NTD and Epoch Times websites and social media channels.