MUSIC TO JIE FOR: Chen Jie performs at a concert. The musical wizard is fascinated by the idea of transcribing Chinese traditional music for the piano.


By Anand Holla


The musical evolution of ace Chinese pianist Chen Jie can be understood through milestones after every four years, and it inspires quite some awe.
Chen entered the Shanghai Conservatory at eight, the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia at 12, and debuted with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Wolfgang Sawallisch at 16, and at 20, she had turned herself into a regular competition veteran and winner.
Counted among the most exciting Chinese pianists today, Chen has toured around the world, performing at top concert venues and collaborating with orchestras such as the New Jersey Symphony, Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Israel Symphony, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.
Chen doesn’t come from a musical family but her parents supported her passion to pursue a career as a pianist. Once she powered through her orchestral and solo debut, Chen altered her focus from playing Western Classical to Chinese music.
Her debut album, Chinese Piano Favourites, won rave reviews, and her second record would feature her first arrangement The Butterfly Lovers. Originally a famous violin concerto, The Butterfly Lovers was written in 1958 by He Zhanhao and Chen Gang while they were students at the Shanghai Conservatory.
Despite the melodies and style being borrowed from traditional Chinese Opera, the concerto is a synthesis of Eastern and Western traditions and its narrative, sourced from Chinese folklore, tells a love story.
Chen, who is fascinated by the idea of transcribing Chinese traditional music for the piano, performed her arrangement of The Butterfly Lovers as a piano concerto at Katara, to a delighted audience on Saturday. Community caught up with Chen soon after the show:

You performed here in Doha last January, and you now performed again. How was it then? And how was it today?
When I performed last January in Doha, it was my first time here. So this time, it felt more like visiting an old friend.
How different have you become, as an artiste, in this past one year?
I had always been very critical and tough on myself, working very hard and leaving very little time for anything else. This past year, I have come to realise that work is work and life is life; you have to live the moment and not always keep thinking about what’s next.

What about the piece, The Butterfly Lovers, do you find special? Also, how challenging was it to arrange it as a piano concerto?
I have been fascinated by this love story ever since I was a little girl. So, it was a great honour to be able to rewrite it for the piano. It was very challenging because the previous violin concerto version, which is already 54 years old, is highly successful and popular. People would inevitably compare my version with the old one, and you know how difficult it is to introduce something new to music lovers who have grown up with the original version. I have added a long cadenza (a technically brilliant, sometimes improvised solo passage, usually towards the end of a concerto), as well as a lot of pianistically challenging techniques. The point is to start from scratch using a pianist’s eye, rather than turning it into a beautiful variation of the old version.

Tell us about the project that has brought the Chinese film crew along with you, to Doha.
This is the first time a big-scale Chinese music piece is being performed by the native players in Gulf countries. We say music is a universal language which can help two cultures to find common ground very fast. Since next year is the Qatar-China Year of Culture, there’s no better time than now to use this opportunity to introduce the Qatari culture and music scene to the Chinese audiences (by filming interesting things about Qatar). I look forward to be part of more contributions in making these two wonderful countries come closer.

What exactly do you feel when you are up on stage, playing the piano?
You really want to know the truth? Well, I do feel like The Queen of the World, sometimes (laughs).