Pianist Niu Niu – The New Chinese Star

Niu Niu, for the first time in Dubai, performing an exceptional programme in the magical candle set Royal Mirage Ball Room, on March 3rd 2018.
The international recognition of NIU NIU is head turning. Winning the biggest international awards, signing record breaking deals, performing on the largest international stages from just 6 years old onwards.

NIU NIU BIO:

With the tender age of 10 Niu Niu is the only pianist who became the youngest pianist ever to sign an exclusive recording contract with an international classical label – EMI Classics now Warner Classics.

Niu Niu is the nickname and performing identity of Shengliang Zhang, born into a musical family in Xiamen, Fujian province, China in 1997. After showing talent at the age of three, Niu Niu received his first lessons from his father. He made his recital debut in August 2003, a few weeks after his sixth birthday, with a programme that included a Mozart piano sonata and a Chopin étude. At the age of eight, he became the youngest student in the 85-year history of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Since the age of ten, Niu Niu (meaning “Little Ox”) has studied with Professor Hung-Kuan Chen, initially at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and, more recently, at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts – where Niu Niu and his family relocated.

Chen believes Niu Niu possesses “an untold passion and aesthetic that belies his tender age”. Another mentor is pianist Leslie Howard, who describes his protégé as “the finest young musician I have ever known.”

In 2007 Niu Niu became the youngest pianist ever to sign an exclusive recording contract with an international classical label – EMI Classics now Warner Classics. In July 2008, he released his debut album, “Niu Niu plays Mozart” followed by “Niu Niu plays Chopin-The Complete Études” in 2010 and “Niu Niu Liszt Transcriptions” in 2012. Completed in June 2014, a recording of Rachmaninov’s Piano concerto No.2 and Paganini Variations with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and their Music Director Jacek Kaspszyk. The recordings immediately led to an invitation to perform concerts with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2016, Niu Niu released his 6th album “Niu Niu Portrait”. Niu Niu opened his 14/15 season performing the Dvorak Piano Concerto with Jiri Belohlavek and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra at the Dvorak Prague Festival, while other recent highlights include his debut with the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra under Muhai Tang performing Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 as well as returning to the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, again under Muhai Tang, performing Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.1. Niu Niu also performed in Japan for a series of tours in 2014: in March 2014 he worked once again with Yutaka Sado and his Super Kids Orchestra for a five-city tour of the major concert halls in Japan and during the summer he toured Japan extensively – giving recitals in major halls such as Suntory Hall Tokyo, Symphony Hall Osaka and others, with one critic describing the performance as the ‘best concert of the year’.

Niu Niu just completed 16 cities concert tour in China within one month in August 2016. Other career highlights to date include an invitation to London’s Royal Festival Hall to perform Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No.1 at the 2007 Pearl Awards, conducted by his coach and mentor Leslie Howard. The concert was held in the presence of His Royal Highness Prince Charles, Prince of Wales. Niu Niu’s performance in China’s annual televised New Year’s concert in 2007 was watched by an estimated audience of half a billion. In October 2010 in Berlin, Niu Niu was made laureate of the 2010 PRIX Montblanc, awarded annually to young emerging instrumentalists in the classical music world. Since then, Niu Niu has appeared in recital in many of the world’s most prestigious venues including London’s Wigmore Hall, Beijing National Centre for the Performing Arts (the first youngest pianist’s solo concert in NCPA), Shanghai Oriental Centre, Suntory Hall Tokyo and Symphony Hall Osaka. As well as performing extensively throughout Japan and China (including a 25 date concerts in 2007/08) he has performed in Switzerland and France with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, given concerts in Berlin, Hamburg, Dortmund and Essen, and, as first laureate of the Artemisia Foundation, he gave debuts in Boston’s Jordan Hall and Yale University’s Sprague Hall in 2012.

Last season he performed Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini and Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No.1 in Hyogo Performing Arts Centre with Maestro Yutaka Sado, as well as the performance of both violin and piano concertos with Shanghai Philharmonic orchestra with Maestro Muhai Tang. In 2014, Niu Niu was accepted to The Juilliard School under full scholarship, and is currently pursuing his Bachelor of Music Degree.

Programme Niu Niu 3. March 2018

Mendelssohn: Rondo Capriccioso (7’)

Chopin: Barcarolle (9’)

Schubert: Impromptu Op. 90 No. 3 (5:30’)

Chopin: Impromptu No. 2 & 3 (10’)

Chopin: Scherzo No. 3 (7:30’)

Intermission

Liszt : Soirée No. 6 (7’) 

Liszt: B-Minor Sonata (31’)

The Venue:

The Magical Royal ballroom with its great acoustics provides the frame to the concerts and creates a bespoke atmosphere for music connoisseurs to enjoy world performers in an elegant setting ideal to socialize before, at the interval and after the event. Special food packages can be booked and are prepared of the marvellous Chefs of the One and Only Royal Mirage

Chinese Sensation NIU NIU 牛牛 (張胜量)

牛牛原名張胜量, 生於1997年福建省厦門一個音樂世家. 在2003年牛牛六歳時開始他第一次個人音樂會, 演奏包括莫扎特 – 鋼琴奏鳴曲和肖邦 – 練習曲. 2007年他十歲時受邀參加一個新年音樂會電視節目, 當時收視率高達半億.

2007年牛牛未夠十歲時成為全球最年輕鋼琴家簽約國際古典品牌-百代古典 (EMI Classics) 品牌公司, 同年他發行首張古典專輯”莫扎特”, 2010年”肖邦練習曲全套,專輯, 2012年”李斯特鋼琴改編曲”專輯, 2014年與波蘭華沙愛樂樂團録制”拉赫瑪尼諾夫-第二鋼琴協奏曲和帕格尼尼主題狂想曲. 2017年牛牛已經發行六張古典唱片.

2007年應英國皇室邀請在皇家節目音樂廳參加音樂會, 英國王儲查爾斯王子對牛牛的演出有高度評價. 同年在德國柏林獲得德國萬寶龍青年音樂家大獎, 成為全世界獲此殊榮的年紀最小的鋼琴家. 過去, 牛牛的演出超過百場足跡踏遍全世界各地, 並與全球著名指揮家和樂團合作, 演奏音樂廳包括著名倫敦魏格摩爾音樂廳, 中國國家大劇院(成為有史以來最年輕鋼琴家在該劇院獨奏音樂會), 上海藝術中心, 曰本大板交响樂音樂廳和三得利音樂廳(成為有史以來最年輕鋼琴家在該兩劇院獨奏音樂會)等等.

2017年牛牛被邀出席中國主辦金磚論壇晚會演出, 在各國元首面前演奏包括中國, 俄羅斯, 印度, 巴西, 非洲等等國家和各國重要嘉賓.

2018年牛牛剛滿20歳會在今年五月以全額獎學金畢業於美國著名音樂學府茱莉亞音樂學校. 這次牛牛在杜拜的獨奏音樂會以最新曲目演奏, 保證是精彩的演出. 很多全球樂評人看過牛牛精彩的演出, 都預計他的發展將是繼朗郎後中國鋼琴界的另一位鋼琴巨星.

СЕНСАЦИЯ КИТАЯ NIU NIU  

Выступление невероятно талантливого Niu Niu во время Новогоднего концерта 2017 года увидело пол миллиарда человек и произвело настоящий фурор. В тот момент ему было только 10 лет. Niu Niu за одну ночь стал национальной гордостью Китая!

В тот же год Niu Niu стал единственным и самым молодым пианистом, который подписал эксклюзивный контракт с международным классическим звукозаписывающим лейблом EMI Classics, который сейчас называется Warner Classics. К тому моменту Niu Niu уже записал “Произведения Моцарта в исполнении Niu Niu”, за которыми в 2010 году последовало “Полное собрание Этюдов Шопена в исполнении Niu Niu”,  в 2012 году он записал произведения Листа, а в 2014 году вместе с Варшавским Филармоническим оркестром – Концерт №2 для фортепьяно Рахманинова. 

Также взлетом его карьеры стало приглашение на Лондонский Королевский Бал-Фестиваль в 2007 году на церемонию вручения “Жемчужного Ордена”, на котором он исполнил Концерт №1 для фортепьяно Шостаковича в присутствии Его Королевского Высочества Принца Чарльза, а также в 2010 году он стал лауреатом Премии Montblanc.

Niu Niu выступал на самых престижных мировых сценах, включая Лондонский зал Wigmore, Пекинский Национальный Центр Искусства (с соло концертом как самый молодой пианист КНДР), Шанхайский Центр Восточного Искуства и в Suntory Hall в Токио. Niu Niu активно гастролирует по странам Европы и в США.

Niu Niu недавно исполнилось 20 лет, и он поступил в Джульярдскую Школу в Нью Йорке с полной стипендией и в настоящее время получает степень Бакалавра Музыки. Его единственное выступление в Дубае будет незабываемым! Многие любители мировой классической музыки предсказывают ему карьеру аналогичную Lang Lang.