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Date: 3/29/2023
LONGMEADOW — Longmeadow Williams Middle School eighth grader and pianist Brianna Li won Music-Fest’s International Rising Talents Festival Grand Prix. On March 18, she performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City where she was awarded her trophy and certificate.
“It was amazing,” Li said. “I didn’t think that I would win. I was shocked, surprised and excited.”
She continued, “The experience before Carnegie Hall was practicing three to five hours a day and kept practicing until I got the piece right. Then to perform at Carnegie Hall was nerve racking. I had butterflies in my stomach, but after a few measures of playing I got use to the environment.”
Music-Fest’s annual International Rising Talents Festival is a program for young talented classical musicians which provides them with the opportunity to perform at New York City’s most prestigious concert halls. The festival is preceded with a competitive audition where a panel of renowned judges chooses the winners according to their musical and artistic abilities. Those students who performed at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall won the Grand Prix level prize, which is the highest level in the audition.
Inessa Gleyzerova Shindel, co-founder and artistic director of the Music-Fest said, “Brianna is a very talented young pianist who demonstrated an outstanding musicality and technical brilliance during her performance in Carnegie Hall. She captured the audience’s attention by her great connection and mature understanding of the music she plays.”
Li began studying the piano at the age of four. She is trained under the guidance of her teacher Galina Gertsendon, who was a professor of classical piano in the music department of Westfield State University for 37 years. Gertsendon has been Brianna’s piano teacher for two years and encouraged her to participate in the festival.
“As a pianist, Brianna is a sensitive player,” Gertsendon explained. “Some people just play notes, but with her it’s possible to bring the piece to what the composer meant as well as the feeling and the character of the piece, that’s what’s most important.”
Li’s audition piece was Sonata in D Major (Longo 461) by Domenico Scarlatti. Gertsendon chose it because it’s a very graceful, fluid, rhythmic and dynamic piece, which truly showcased Brianna’s vibrant nature.
“My goal as a teacher is to help my piano students to get to the highest level of musicality, technique and overall interpretation they can possibly achieve,” Gertsendon replied. “I’m very proud of Brianna and all of the work we’ve done has paid off. This is a really great step. There’s a lot more work ahead and we will work together to reach higher.”
In the meantime, Li is working on her repertoire and getting her piano technique better. She wants to pursue music and is trying to get into the Curtis Institute of Music.
“A lot of people think classical music is merely for the elderly and it’s always very slow, quiet and soft,” Li said. “Not always, because if you hear my pieces, it’s fast like lightening. Classical music is actually good. Push yourself to your limits that’s how you can be the best.”