How do you get to Carnegie Hall? An artist shares her musical journey
Practice, practice, practice?
That’s not going to cut it, if you want to know how to get to Carnegie Hall these days. “Authenticity” is the secret weapon for violinist Sirena Huang, who will perform her entire Carnegie debut recital program through Shelter Island Friends of Music at the Presbyterian Church this Saturday, March 15 at 3 p.m.
Always thoughtful, Ms. Huang, now 30, is the kind of artist long questioning her role as a musician in society. The former child prodigy, who at age 11 gave a TED talk that received 2.5 million views, is a mature artist now, with strong opinions to express through the curation of her Carnegie Hall debut program.
“When I found out that I would have the privilege to give a recital at Carnegie Hall, I felt compelled to create a program that was personal and reflected my growth in political consciousness,” Ms. Huang said. “This collection includes composers from the classical canon who shaped my early musical journey, as well as composers of color whose work I discovered as an adult, and who profoundly reshaped my understanding of classical music and its possibilities.”
In many ways, her Carnegie debut recital is an autobiography of that personal journey, a lived experience in classical music from childhood prodigy, when you play what is chosen for you, to mature artist, where you choose what you play in control of your own narrative.
Not excluding European composers at the heart of traditional classical music — she’s playing a Beethoven sonata on her Carnegie program — she’s simply expanding her tent. There’s a respect and dialogue flowing both ways in her pairing of tradition with lesser known musical voices equally worthy of joining the classical canon.
Featured on her program, Afro-British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912), who infused African and African American music into his works, anticipating movements like the Harlem Renaissance.
In 1932, in the Bronx, a gifted pianist and organist would name her son in his honor: the composer, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (1932-2004), who served as music director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. He would continue on in the tradition of his namesake, combining Baroque counterpoint with the Blues, Spirituals and black folk music. Ms. Huang will perform works by both composers.
She also wants to take us musically to a location synonymous with cultural cross-pollination — China’s Silk Road. Composer Chen Gang’s “Sunshine Over Tashkurgan” is inspired by the musical traditions of the Tajik ethnic group from the Xinjiang region bordering Pakistan.
It’s a “rich cultural mosaic,” according to Ms. Huang, one based on the Arabic scale system known as maqam, filled with an improvisatory style of intricate rhythms, sliding between notes, and a deeply expressive approach to ornamentation.
Shelter Island has the rare opportunity to hear a musician of Sirena Huang’s artistry and intellect tell her story here first — a globe-trotting, time-traveling story of musical self-discovery. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you get to Carnegie Hall.
Five things you’ll learn at the Sirena Huang violin concert
All are welcome to come to the Sirena Huang Concert, presented by Shelter Island Friends of Music, Saturday, March 15, at the Presbyterian Church, at 3 p.m.
Here are five things you’ll learn while enjoying this free concert:
1. Hearing a violinist’s Carnegie Hall debut recital performed first here on Shelter Island
2. The sound of an extremely rare 1739 violin by Guarneri “del Gesù”— a maker who rivaled Stradivarius
3. A violin sonata (Poulenc) all about Federico García Lorca’s poem “The Six Strings”— yes, six; it’s about a sad guitar
4. 20th century legend Igor Stravinsky, going “neoclassical” and copying 18th century Baroque music with his Suite Italienne
5. The complex style of Tajik folk music from the Xinjiang region of China, part of the fabled Silk Road
Donations are welcome, and all are invited to a reception after the concert to meet the artist.
