By Leora Zeitlin
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/krwg/local-krwg-863547.mp3
Las Cruces – Pianist Xiayin Wang has been receiving top honors, rave reviews and the appreciation of enthusiastic audiences wherever she performs. During a concert stop in Las Cruces, she came by the studios of KRWG to talk with Intermezzo host Leora Zeitlin about a few of her favorite composers (Mozart, Scriabin, Gershwin), her musical background, and the rigors of living on the road.
Xiayin Wang started playing piano at age 5, but in a sense, she was born to music. Her father traveled worldwide performing on the Chinese two-stringed violin ("erhu"), and her mother took notes at her childhood lessons, so that they could review them together later. From age ten, she lived at the Shanghai Conservatory. Now based in New York, where she graduated from -- and won major awards at -- the Manhattan School of Music, Xiayin Wang has a busy career as a pianist and teacher. Musical selections during the interview come from the cd "Introducing Xiayin Wang" (Marquis #81369):
1.) Wolfgang A. Mozart, Sonata in C major (K330), first movement;
2.) Alexander Scriabin, "Two Poemes," Op. 32;
3.) Excerpt from George Gershwin's "Etude No. 4, "Embraceable You."
Interview recorded and broadcast from the studios of KRWG-FM 90.7 on Wednesday, November 13, 2008.