Overview
Biography
Pianist Dr. Cheng Wai, Vivian
Central Conservatory of Music (HK) Foundation founding chairlady and Steinway artist, Cheng Wai is renowned Hong Kong pianist, critically acclaimed as the “Beethoven’s Fifth Generation Successor” and “Piano Poetess”, and is among 2009’s “Top Ten Most Outstanding Young Persons Selection”. She is currently assistant professor at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University, and The Chinese University of Hong Kong, as well as a judicator for numerous international music competitions.
From 2017 to 2018, she toured 15 Chinese provinces in the concert hall for her “Dessiner la Musique, Cheng Wai Piano Recital China Tour”, achieving phenomenal success, selling out city to city, with Changsha and Chengdu being state sponsored performances. Not only was she the first Hong Kong pianist to be invited to tour by the China Poly Group, but she also reinvented classical piano performance by tying in paintings with piano performance to achieve full artistic utopia for the senses. In July 2017, Dr. Cheng Wai participated in the music gala honouring the 20th Anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China, mentoring international movie star Donnie Yen in performing the “Yellow River Piano Concerto” with Lang Lang to welcome PRC Chairman Xi Jinping on his Hong Kong visit.
Dr. Cheng Wai’s music has been heard all over the world, and her music has echoed from the halls of Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Beijing Concert Hall, Shanghai Grand Theatre, Harbin Grand Theatre, and Hong Kong Cultural Centre in China and more, of which she was the first Hong Kong pianist to perform in the Harbin Grand Theatre. She has also collaborated with orchestras as a soloist, e.g. the Moscow Orchestra, Danish Odense Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Hong Kong Children's Symphony Orchestra, and the following conductors: Gustave Meier, Lawrence Smith, Samuel Wong, Yip Wing-sie, Zheng Xiao Ying, Mak Ka-lok, Hu Yong Yan, Yan Hui Chang, and Johnny Poon, to name a few. International musicians who have performed with her also include Augustin Dumay, outstanding Chinese violinists: Lu Si-qing, Chuan-yun Li, Jue Yao, and Mira Wang, cellists: Wang Jian, Chu Yi-bing, and Florent Héau; and vocalists Wai Song (tenor), Ying Huang and Ke Luwa (soprano), Zhang Qiu Lin, Gordon Feng (alto) to name a few.
Over the years of her dedication to music, she has won many awards on the world stage, including the US Kingsville International Piano Competition, the Koszuvsky Piano Competition in New York, the International Youth Year Award for Hong Kong Outstanding Youth Performers, and more. She is among the first graduating class in Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, later obtaining a bachelor’s degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, master’s degree and artist diploma from Yale University, and finished with her doctoral degree from New York State University at Stony Brook.
As the chairwoman of the Central Conservatory of Music (HK) Foundation, she successfully implemented the 10 year plan initiatives, “Bravo series” “Sixwire” and other East meets West cultural projects. She founded the Metropolitan Trio, a perfect union of Eastern and Western music. At the same time, she also created the JW Piano Duo, a classic sister pianists duo with Chen Jie. In 2018, invited by Dr. Yip Wai Hong, Dr. Cheng Wai performed 3 piano concertos, including Dr. Yip ‘s own “Temptation” piano concerto in collaboration with the Hong Kong Children's Symphony Orchestra conducted by Prof. Johnny Poon for two nights of the Hong Kong City Hall Music Festival.
Dr. Cheng Wai often volunteers to hold lectures and master classes in Hong Kong and mainland China, and is now a familiar face among the judges of the ABRSM exams and the Hong Kong Music Festival Competition after years of her service. Since 2015, Dr. Cheng Wai has been invited to the USA, Italy, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain and more countries to serve as a judge, featured guest, and mentor for their music festivals. She is the only Chinese judge for the Carmel Klavier International Piano Festival in 2018.
