Mengzi Zhang (piano)

Programme

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732 – 1809)
Piano Sonata in D major, Hob. XVI:37
I. Allegro con brio
II. Largo e sostenuto
III. Finale: Presto ma non troppo

Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778 – 1837)
Piano Sonata No. 5 in F-sharp minor, Op. 81
I. Allegro
II. Largo con molto espressione
III. Vivace

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791)
Fantasia No. 4 in C minor, K. 475

Franz Schubert (1797 – 1828) / Franz Liszt (1811 – 1886)
Der Erlkönig, S. 558/4

Artist Bio

Pianist, fortepianist and harpsichordist, and one of the leading Chinese specialists in early keyboard performance. He studied modern piano at the Haute École de Musique de Genève, where he graduated with the highest distinction, and holds a Master of Piano Performance as well as a specialised Master’s degree in Historical Keyboard Practice.

Fascinated by the expressive and aesthetic possibilities of historical instruments, Mengzi was particularly trained in technique and musical aesthetics as a fortepianist and harpsichordist with Michel Kiener in Geneva and Pierre Goy in Lausanne. He is currently pursuing an Artist Diploma at the Royal College of Music in London under the guidance of Geoffrey Govier. He has also followed courses in Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque music with Ashley Solomon, Terence Charlston, Francis Biggi and Jean-Yves Haymoz.

Renowned for his expressive and virtuosic performances, characterised by fluid phrasing and a refined touch, Mengzi Zhang appears regularly as a soloist and chamber musician across Europe and China. Over the past five years, he has given more than 200 performances of various kinds. Notable projects include Beloved Beethoven at the Shanghai Concert Hall, in which he performed Beethoven’s nine symphonies in Hummel’s fortepiano arrangements over four days and five concerts. He is also regularly invited to perform piano concertos with symphony orchestras, including the Lianshan Symphony Orchestra.

Committed to historically informed performance, he seeks to perform the music of each era on an instrument that corresponds to it. Alongside his performing career, he maintains a strong pedagogical activity. He previously taught early keyboard instruments at the Xi’an Conservatory of Music and continues to share his expertise in historical instruments and performance practice through masterclasses and lectures at universities and music institutions.

A new disc “To the Gracious Franz” of Haydn’s sonatas and fantasias which recorded on his original forte-piano Kulmbach was released in 2024. An album of Mozart’s sonatas for piano and violin with Baroque violinist Cui Hongxia is also being published.

Mengzi ZHANG is the founder of the Early Music Saison Amarcordes in China, which since 2017 has seen instrumentalists, musicians, musicologists and museum curators gathering to hold concerts and exchange knowledge of early instruments. He also frequently collaborates with Shanghai Camarata and Sound of Baroque Concerts China.

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