Lan and Wolf win 2009 JHU Concerto Competition
Two full-time Hopkins students have found a way to balance the music they love with their other academic passions. Pianist Mengyu Lan and cellist Philip Wolf were recently named the winners of the Hopkins Concerto Competition.
Mengyu Lan is a graduate student in the Department of Civil Engineering of the Whiting School. He began his piano training at the age of five with professors from the Sichuan Conservatory of Music in China. For Lan, piano was a natural choice.
"Unlike most other young piano students in my country, who are forced to study the piano by their parents, I asked my parents to let me study the piano myself when I was five," Lan told the News-Letter. "Intuitively, the sound of piano attracted me the first time I heard it." As Lan himself can attest, one need not attend a music conservatory to possess extraordinary musicianship.
Additionally, Lan has studied with world-renowned teachers such as Zhaoyi Dan and Daxin Zheng and is the youngest pianist to ever achieve the second-highest Chinese level of piano performance.
In 2000, he was awarded first prize in a provincial piano competition and declared the national winner at Tsinghua University Art Camp. For the Mengyu family, growing as a pianist was not always easy.
"Seeing my unstoppable eagerness for piano study, my family bought me one by selling some of their equities, like TV." Lan said. "Even when I was young, I understood my family's economic situation and I knew I had to study very hard to become a world-class pianist. Since then I practiced the piano four hours a day, 365 days a year without any exception."
Lan has performed solo recitals at Zhongshan Park Hall, Beijing Jinfan Hall and Tsinghua University and has also performed here at Hopkins with the Chamber Orchestra. He studies at Peabody with Corey McVicar.
Although Lan's talents are exceptional, he has held off on his goal of becoming a professional pianist. "I have to say it is the family economy that has led me to give up being a professional pianist later on," Lan said. "It is hard to make that choice, since I am one of my world-class teacher's favorite students, but there is no other option."
Mengyu Lan is a graduate student in the Department of Civil Engineering of the Whiting School. He began his piano training at the age of five with professors from the Sichuan Conservatory of Music in China. For Lan, piano was a natural choice.
"Unlike most other young piano students in my country, who are forced to study the piano by their parents, I asked my parents to let me study the piano myself when I was five," Lan told the News-Letter. "Intuitively, the sound of piano attracted me the first time I heard it." As Lan himself can attest, one need not attend a music conservatory to possess extraordinary musicianship.
Additionally, Lan has studied with world-renowned teachers such as Zhaoyi Dan and Daxin Zheng and is the youngest pianist to ever achieve the second-highest Chinese level of piano performance.
In 2000, he was awarded first prize in a provincial piano competition and declared the national winner at Tsinghua University Art Camp. For the Mengyu family, growing as a pianist was not always easy.
"Seeing my unstoppable eagerness for piano study, my family bought me one by selling some of their equities, like TV." Lan said. "Even when I was young, I understood my family's economic situation and I knew I had to study very hard to become a world-class pianist. Since then I practiced the piano four hours a day, 365 days a year without any exception."
Lan has performed solo recitals at Zhongshan Park Hall, Beijing Jinfan Hall and Tsinghua University and has also performed here at Hopkins with the Chamber Orchestra. He studies at Peabody with Corey McVicar.
Although Lan's talents are exceptional, he has held off on his goal of becoming a professional pianist. "I have to say it is the family economy that has led me to give up being a professional pianist later on," Lan said. "It is hard to make that choice, since I am one of my world-class teacher's favorite students, but there is no other option."
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