By Lyn Bronson
It was quite an event last night as Steinway Society the Bay Area continued its fifteenth season with a slam dunk, “knock˜em dead”recital by recent Van Cliburn Gold Medal winner, nineteen-year-old pianist Haochen Zhang. Added to the aura of this exciting evening was hearing Zhang in a new venue, the superb new McAfee Center in Saratoga, and to top that off, we heard Zhang performing on a magnificent new Steinway concert grand, a gift to the Center from a generous donor.
Undoubtedly there were some in the audience who had heard Zhang’s winning performances live from the Van Cliburn Competition via webcast last June. If so, they were in for a surprise. At the competition Zhang at times seemed soberly serious and somewhat restrained, for even as he was delivering first rate performances, it always seemed as though there was a tiger inside him straining to be freed. Well, last night the tiger sprang forth with a freedom and abandon that was as powerful as it was astonishing.
