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Qing Jiang

Biography

Qing Jiang had her first piano lesson, from her mother, at the age of three in Zhenjiang, China. Perhaps it was destiny - Qing means "sunshine," and "piano" and "sunshine" are pronounced the same in Chinese. By the time Qing was seven, her mother was taking her to Shanghai every week for lessons, a train trip lasting up to five hours each way. She eventually won the major piano competitions in both her province and Shanghai and, as a straight-A student, was accepted into China's top high school. Since elementary school, she has spent her mornings in class and her afternoons practicing. Taking on both demands was considered a risky path, and some teachers did not support the effort. But Qing loved it. She excelled, and as a junior was selected to be a summer exchange student in Tempe, Arizona.

While in Tempe, Qing directed a musical based on a Chinese folk tale and held a piano recital at Arizona State University (ASU). During the intermission, ASU Professor Walter Cosand came backstage to encourage Qing to continue her studies at ASU. A special audition was arranged. On the day Qing returned to China, she received word of her acceptance to the ASU School of Music. A year later, Qing had a four-year scholarship and became the first high school student from her city to pursue a bachelor's degree in the US.

Qing ultimately graduated from ASU with a 3.93 GPA, graduating cum laude, and along the way won the ASU concerto competition, performed as a soloist with the ASU symphony orchestra, collaborated with others on more than 60 concerts, and twice attended the Aspen music festival on a full scholarship.

ASU Regents' Professor Caio Pagano calls Qing's musicianship "intense and powerful .. She picked up minute details immediately and transformed them in her own musical language." Qing in fact dreams of transformation in a much larger context. In addition to performing as a concert pianist, she hopes to transcribe Chinese traditional music into works for the piano. But most of all she loves to touch people emotionally with her performances. "Music," Qing says, "is the best spiritual gift to us: it brings joy, peace and encouragement; and it purifies and heals our souls."

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