Programme Note

My piano trio is a thrill ride for the ultimate performing machine. Completed in the spring of 2002 while studying at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, the work fuses Chinese flavor with exhilarating energy and groovy rhythms. It also pays tribute to some of the “old-school” virtuosic pieces (Szymanowski, Martinů, Saint-Saëns, etc.) that I had played and loved. A cadenza-like musical dialogue between the violin and cello emerges in the middle of the piece. The work was premiered by Benjamin Bowman on the violin, Priscilla Lee on the cello, and myself (I tried) at the piano at Curtis.

—Zhou Tian

Piano Trio was awarded First Prize in 2009 Washington International Competition for Composers.