Lions Gate Sinfonia at Centennial Theatre, Saturday, Oct. 13 at 7: 30 p.m.
ONE of the world's most acclaimed young pianists will take the stage at Centennial Theatre tomorrow to help Lions Gate Sinfonia open their season.
Avan Yu, 24, is taking a break from his studies in Berlin to perform, among other pieces, Franz Liszt's intricate piano concerto No. 1.
It's also a homecoming of sorts for Yu. Originally from Hong Kong, he received much of his musical instruction in Lions Bay, studying with Kenneth Broadway and Ralph Markham, who themselves enjoyed a distinguished 20-year performing career before moving into teaching in 1999.
"I'm really looking forward to this performance," Yu says, speaking with the North Shore News from Berlin. "It's always wonderful to play back home. I'll get to see a lot of family and friends too. The different thing about playing in North Vancouver is you actually know a lot of the people you're playing with. Not only the audience members but the conductor and the violinists and so on. I've known a lot of these people for years."
Yu said the opportunity to perform alongside many of his early mentors, including conductor Clyde Mitchell, will be a very personal moment.
While still a young man, Yu has already made his mark on the music scene, having performed at Carnegie Hall, the Philharmonie in Berlin, the National Arts Centre in Ottawa and many other premier venues around the world. He's also picked up a handful of prizes and medals along the way, including first place in the Canadian Chopin Competition when he was only 17.
"I really enjoy performing and I really enjoy traveling," Yu says. "Putting these things together, performing around the world, is really enjoyable. I also really like to perform in different settings."
But despite all his globetrotting, Yu says he still values returning to Broadway and Markham's studio.
"I still work with them whenever I'm back in Vancouver. It's been wonderful learning with them, not just piano playing but other types of things too, other aspects of my career. I'm very grateful to have them as my teachers. For example, how to speak at a concert and introduce pieces - it's got nothing to do with piano playing but the audience really appreciates it. More and more artists are doing that now. Fifty years ago no one did that, but now it's changing. And programming, that's a great art. There are so many pieces we could play. Making up a 90-minute program, it's almost like creating a dish, like a cook. There's a lot of thought that goes into it."
Broadway and Markham say it was obvious when they first met a 15-year-old Yu that he was destined for the world's biggest stages.
"He was learning a very advanced repetoire at a very young age, with exceptional ability right from the start," Markham says. "It was like working with an adult."
"He has an incredible ear," adds Broadway. "He can hear something and then just play it. Most people, you have to explain things one idea at a time and then they go home and practice and hopefully they get better.
With Avan, we'd have him play this extremely difficult passage and say 'You have to do this with your wrist and this with your arm and think this and feel that and so on.' He'd think for a second then just do it. Most people would have to practise for a month. He's a very quick learner."
Markham says it's a real thrill to see their student's success, and you can bet both of his mentors will be in the audience for the Saturday concert.
"We had great teachers when we were young so it's a real reward," he says.
"In our minds," says Broadway, "he is really one of Canada's brightest stars. He's an extraordinary talent. This is a concert people should come to."
You can learn more about Yu at www.facebook. com/avanyu or www.twitter. com/avanyupianist.
