I have been back from my five-week sojourn in Suzhou for a couple of days now, and every day I attempt to answer the same question: “how was China?” How does one answer this? How does one describe a small experience in a very large country, convey every moment of a month in one succinct statement? One doesn’t, one has decided. One will instead just state what an incredible experience one had in one’s experience as a Young Artist with the iSing International Festival. One will also stop referring to oneself in the third person… starting now.
Seriously, though, my summer at iSing was absolutely incredible. It was eye-opening in so many ways, and had innumerable unique and amazing qualities. Working with teachers and colleagues from so many different places, in such an incomparable setting, was an absolute dream, and I feel that my eyes have been opened, and my ears tuned, to the larger musical community to which I am fortunate to belong — a community that I always knew was there but had not yet experienced. I look forward to seeing the friends, colleagues, and teachers I have met at iSing at various times all across the world, and to working with each of them in the future.
For now, reader dearest, feel free to watch the following video of my solo debut with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra under Maestro Yu Long, and accept my apology in advance for my inability to explain the entirety of China.