ROCHESTER, NY – Zhe Tang, an Eastman School of Music doctoral candidate who studies with Professor of Piano Barry Snyder, received the silver medal in the First Grieg International Piano Competition – an intensive competition sponsored by the Norwegian State Academy of Music and the Oslo (Norway) Grieg Society.
After competing in preliminary rounds against more than 60 young pianists from the United States, Russia, Germany, China, Norway, Japan, Korea, and other countries, Tang, 28, was one of six pianists selected for the final round of competition earlier this month. As silver medalist, he receives a cash prize and a series of concert engagements in the United States, Asia, and Europe, including a performance in Bergen, Norway – the birthplace of the competition’s namesake, Edvard Grieg, a celebrated Norwegian composer.
"Zhe is very gifted," said Snyder. "He has wonderful imagination and styling, and his choice of repertoire is very innovative. It’s won him accolades and this major prize." In competition, Tang performed works by Scarlatti, Chopin, and Strauss, as well as Chinese and Norwegian folk songs.
Originally from Shanghai, China, Tang entered the Shanghai Conservatory at the age of 12. Upon graduation, he came to America to continue his studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music and Northern Illinois University. He is now a Liberace Foundation Scholar at Eastman, where he also serves as teaching assistant to Professor Snyder and has earned the distinctive Performer’s Certificate. Tang already has appeared with the orchestras of Chicago, Cleveland, and Shanghai, and has appeared on radio and television in New York, Chicago, and Poland as well. He was the first-prize winner in the Kosciuszko Chopin Competition and received the 1997 Adele Marcus Foundation Grant, which enabled him to perform extensively across the United States.
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