At 16:30 on March 7, Zhou Guangren, a tenured professor at the Central Conservatory of Music, passed away peacefully at his home in Beijing at the age of 93. She is one of the most influential pianists and educators in the international music scene in China today, one of the most outstanding women in China in the 20th century, and is known as "the soul of Chinese piano education".
"Her care for her students is like a loving mother, and generations of students have grown up with Mr. Zhou's care and encouragement." Duan Zhaoxu, a student of Zhou Guangren and a doctor of the Central Conservatory of Music and an associate professor at Beijing Normal University, said that as a student of Zhou Guangren, he will strive to pass on her words and deeds like a fire and play the "Voice of China" for the world.
Zhou Guangren is known as "the soul of Chinese piano education"
For the first time in international music rhythm, Chinese piano music was played
In the 1920s, Zhou Guangren's father, Zhou Xiaogao, studied in Hanover, Germany, to pursue a doctorate in mechanical manufacturing, accompanied by his mother. On December 17, 1928, on the banks of the Rhine in Germany, Zhou Guangren was born. After a brief life in a foreign land, at the age of 4, she returned to Shanghai with her family.
As a child, Zhou Guangren was almost obsessed with piano learning, and after returning to China, he began to study at the "Shanghai Music College" founded by Ding Shande and other first-generation musicians in mainland China. At the age of 16, despite her father's objections, she insisted on following the path of a professional performer. At that time Chinese had just begun to study Western music, and the learning conditions were extremely limited. In order to learn the piano well, Zhou Guangren constantly looked for high-level Chinese and foreign teachers in Shanghai, and successively studied piano with Qian Qi, Ding Shande, Mei Paci, Marcus, Bella Belle, Wittenberg and other Chinese and foreign masters.
In addition, a large number of artistic practices are also a means of learning and progressing for Zhou Guangren. Around the age of 20, she began performing in Shanghai, giving solo, chamber music and concerto concerts. These performances were often arranged and organized by Zhou Guangren herself, and she also saw cooperation with musicians at home and abroad as an opportunity to exercise and learn, and many people invited her to accompany the violin and vocal music at that time, which she gladly accepted.
In 1949, the People's Republic of China was founded. Zhou Guangren, 20, is in Fanghua. She was soon invited to join the Predecessor of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, the East China Branch of the Central Conservatory of Music, as a piano teacher.
In 1951, Zhou Guangren was invited to Beijing by the Ministry of Culture. In the same year, as a member of the "Chinese Artist Delegation", she visited Czechoslovakia with violinist Ma Sicong and singers Yu Yixuan and Guo Lanying to participate in the "Prague Spring" music festival. She played He Luting's "Shepherd Boy Piccolo" and Ma Sicong's piano song "Encouragement", making Chinese piano music played for the first time at international music festivals, showing the new achievements of Chinese piano music to the world.
Zhou Guangren was born in 1928 in Hanover, Germany
The first Chinese pianist to win an award in an international competition
After returning to Beijing from the Czech Republic, Zhou Guangren followed the Chinese Youth Cultural and Labor Troupe to Berlin, Germany, where he participated in the World Youth and Students Peace and Friendship Festival. With the piano song "Shepherd Boy Piccolo", Zhou Guangren won the third prize in the piano competition, which is the first time that a new Chinese pianist has won an award in an international piano competition, which is of great significance in the history of Chinese piano.
At the same time, this visit also has a profound and direct inspiration for Zhou Guangren's piano playing skills. A Hungarian piano professor said to Zhou Guangren: "Your music is very good, and your playing is also very musical." However, your playing method is still relatively old, and your playing is not loose enough. Later, the professor gave her 6 lessons in succession. Zhou Guangren said that the experience made her somewhat "enlightened". Since then, she has been paying great attention to the updated research of piano playing methods in the process of playing and teaching.
However, the biggest gain for her from this visit is not the improvement of awards and playing skills, but the improvement of her thoughts and the shock of her soul. Zhou Guangren once said: "I was born in Germany, received a Western-style education, and was once a 'fake foreign devil', and this experience inspired me to feel a sense of mission and pride as a Chinese." ”
In 1955, Zhou Guangren went to the Central Conservatory of Music for further study, which coincided with the time when Soviet experts hired by the Ministry of Culture came to the Central Conservatory of Music to guide the work. According to Zhou Guangren's recollection before his death, "the head of the piano department, the director of the teaching and research department, and all the teachers and students came to listen to the lectures, and everyone studied eagerly and tried their best to improve their musical level." "Zhou Guangren continued to improve his profession by studying with the well-known Soviet pianist Tatolian and the soviet meritorious artist Ta Pian tat pianist Ta Plieusk.
In 1956, Zhou Guangren went to East Germany to participate in the first Schumann piano competition and won the eighth place. In the same year, she was also selected as an outstanding actor by the Ministry of Culture. She once recalled that Chinese pianists in this period gained a lot in international piano competitions, and Liu Shikun, Yin Chengzong, etc. won important awards in international competitions such as the Tchaikovsky Music Competition. In 1959, Zhou Guangren was officially transferred from the Central Orchestra to the Piano Department of the Central Conservatory of Music, serving as the deputy director of the piano teaching and research department.
Zhou Guangren devoted his life to piano teaching
For the first time, Chinese piano works were systematically introduced to the world
Zhou Guangren devoted his life to piano teaching, and trained outstanding pianists such as Ni Hongjin, Li Baoqiong, Wu Yinan, Dan Zhaoyi, Yang Yunlin, and Li Feilan. In the early 1980s, Zhou Guangren was invited by the "Edgar Snow" Foundation to visit the United States, successively gave lectures at 29 universities, and held 44 consecutive solo concerts, which was the first pianist to systematically introduce Chinese piano works to foreign countries since the founding of New China.
The piano brought joy to Zhou Guangren, but it also brought her pain. One day in May 1982, when Zhou Guangren was assisting in moving a large grand piano, the leg suddenly fell off, the heavy piano collapsed instantly, and Zhou Guangren, who was next to the piano, subconsciously used his hands to protect the piano, and the three fingers of his right hand were smashed under the piano, the middle and little fingers were crushed, and the ring finger was broken from the root of the fingernail. After rescue, the middle finger and little finger were saved, while the ring finger was shortened.
However, such a huge blow did not ruin Zhou Guangren's artistic career. In order to restore her finger function, Zhou Guangren endured severe pain and insisted on practicing, and after a full year of injury, she miraculously reappeared on the stage and continued to present her high-level performance to the world.
Since the reform and opening up, Zhou Guangren has served as a judge in major international piano competitions such as the Van Claiborne International Piano Competition and the Leeds International Piano Competition, constantly promoting the exchange of Chinese piano education with the world. She has also founded two children's piano schools, "Xinghai Youth Piano School" and "Qingdao Leyou Piano School", cultivated more than a thousand piano children with great development potential; organized the national youth professional and amateur piano competitions for many times and served as the chairman of the jury, cultivated many outstanding piano performance talents; presided over the Chinese amateur piano examination activities, personally selected and compiled examination courses, and served as the director of the National Piano Examination Expert Committee, which greatly promoted the popularization and development of piano education; organized and founded a set of high-level, authoritative, The international "China International Piano Competition" has greatly improved China's international status in the field of piano.
Editor-in-charge: Yang Xiaojun