Pianist Rachel Cheung on Reflections, her first international album

Prestige 40 Under 40 honouree and pianist Rachel Cheung’s first international album, Reflections, comes out this month. She sits down with Prestige to look inwards on the experiences, the people and the music that shaped her.

Much of her childhood, Rachel Cheung recalls, was spent around the piano. Her father was the first to teach her and, after he’d discovered his daughter’s potential, she soon found herself learning from the best. By the age of nine she’d met her mentor and teacher Eleanor Wong, and the following year she enrolled at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts. She performed in competitions – and performed well – which allowed her to enter even more contests around the world. “My first international competition was in Ukraine, and I was 11,” she tells me. “It was in this competition that I first thought about making a career as a concert pianist.”

Few people would know exactly what they wanted in life as a college graduate, but at 11 Cheung was already resolute. She adored the piano; loved music ardently. “Miss Wong really was the one who pushed my musicality to the next level and taught me what it takes to become a complete musician,” says Cheung. “And it simply came down to listening. Playing the piano isn’t just about technique or playing the notes clearly or getting the tempo right. These are all basics, but what Miss Wong taught me was to appreciate music and to understand the messages the music was trying to convey. How does the music move you, inspire you, form part of your journey? All these things are important to becoming a complete musician.”

Cheung is one of Hong Kong’s most sought-after pianists. In 2017, she came away from the prestigious Van Cliburn piano competition with the Public Prize, propelling her on to the world stage. She’s toured Asia, America and Europe, collaborating with some of the biggest artists and conductors in the classical music world, including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Anna Netrebko, Jaap van Zweden and Edo de Waart.

“It’s funny but you’re less scared when you’re young,” says Cheung on the topic of touring and performing. “Maybe because everything’s so fresh and new you don’t even have the capacity to feel nervous. As I get older, I feel more pressure but it’s a good kind of pressure. I think it’s good to feel nervous before going on stage, and I enjoy the excitement. I think it’s a universal quality all performing artists share. Performing should feel special, and if you’re nervous it’s because you’re still looking for ways to challenge yourself and improve yourself.”

And as a performing artist, nothing makes Cheung happier than hearing people are moved by her music. “Performing is like sharing to me,” Cheung explains. “It makes me so happy to hear when my music touches people. I never really know for sure what people feel or think when I’m playing, but once, when I was playing a few concerts in Tokyo, one of the violinists came up to me after our final night to tell me that every night I played the second movement, it made her think about her father. When she told me that I almost cried, because I could feel her emotions and understand how much her father means to her from the music.”

Making music – whether you’re the composer or the performer – is an incredibly personal process, requiring the musician to dive deep into their feelings and leave their heart and soul on stage to be read like an open book. Recording music can in many ways be almost autobiographical.

Cheung debuts her first international album, produced by Michael Fine for Decca Records, this month. “I named the album Reflections, because it’s a collection of pieces that mean a huge deal to me,” says Cheung. “Each piece of music represents a key moment in my life, whether it marked a milestone in my music career or my personal experience.”

Reflections consists of three important works by Chopin, Beethoven and Ravel. “I chose these three pieces because together they showcase different skills and styles that were representative of me,” says Cheung.

“I’ve been playing Chopin’s 24 Preludes since I was a child and I’ve also performed a few of them at competition,” says Cheung. “They’ve been part of my life for so long and they bring me so many memories. Each of the 24 Preludes are almost like a shard of memory for me, fragments that, when put together, have shaped me into who
I am today.”

Beethoven’s Sonata No 31 Opus 110 in A-flat Major is one of the composer’s last sonatas. “It’s a classical piece and I hope you can see a new side to my musicianship,” says Cheung. “In this sonata, I could feel the way Beethoven perceived the world, and his love for it. I’ve always enjoyed playing Beethoven because he has such a unique character and way to deal with his struggles and inner demons. His music has inspired me so much on how to tackle challenges.”

And, lastly, Ravel’s Miroir. “The five movements all have rather unique nature-inspired titles,” Cheung explains. “But what I really like about Ravel is the way he composes. It’s quite orchestral. He’s not composing just pianistically to display one’s virtuosity, but he’s very imaginative and uses the piano to imagine other instruments and sounds. Through Ravel’s piece, I hope to display all the different tone colours. I want the album to showcase myself as a complete musician.”

The information in this article is accurate as of the date of publication.

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