Thursday, July 6, 2023
10 years after my last visit to Chengdu (and China!) I was happy to return to a enthusiastic audience of piano students and parents, hundreds of whom came from around all of Asia to compete, take lessons and attend concerts. To facilitate the vote counting with all the children, we put in a survey in an app. With hundreds of people responding, I was happy to let the computer do the heavy work of collecting and tallying the votes! In 3 rounds of voting, it was clear that Prokofiev won out handily over Debussy, at about 2 to 1. Many audience comments mentioned that their perception of Prokofiev’s music had grown into a much more nuanced view with this program, which is of course one of my main goals! Mission Accomplished! Besides the 3 rounds of the streamlined version, I also gave the festival listeners a sneak preview of Young Geniuses, with the final round of that Smackdown - Chopin’s Rondeau in C Major Opus 73 vs. Mendelssohn’s Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso Opus 14. Mendelssohn won handily in that match-up!
