After hearing about the devastation wrought by the tragic earthquake in China's Sichuan province, Twin Cities high school students Melody Hu and Nick Qiu decided to host a benefit concert to support the relief and reconstruction efforts, following the success of their benefit concert to support impoverished students in China last spring.
Pianists take a bow
Hu, a recent high school graduate, and Qiu, a senior this coming fall, quickly pulled together a stellar group of young pianists from all around the Twin Cities ranging from young prodigies to high school seniors planning to pursue music professionally. The performers include winners and finalists of prestigious local, state, and regional contests such as MTNA Yamaha and Baldwin Awards, the Minnesota International Piano e-competition, the Thursday Musical and Schubert Club Young Artist Scholarship Competition, the Minnetonka Symphony Orchestra and the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra Rising Stars Concerto Competition, the MMTF Mozart Concerto Competition, the SPPTA Concerto Competition, the Minnesota Idol Competition and many other competitions.
The concert took place on Sunday, June 1 at 6:30 p.m. at St. Anthony Park Lutheran Church (2323 Como Ave, St. Paul). Hu introduced the concert, and showed video clips about the earthquake in China. A volunteer from Minnesota Chinese Earthquake Relief organizations thanked all participants and donors, then introduced the school reconstruction project organized by CAAM, the Minneapolis Foundation and other local Chinese organizations, plus other donation channels such as the Red Cross.
The introductions were followed by the outstanding performances by the group of accomplished young pianists. The performers included: Andy Xue, Reed Tetzloff, Vivian Hou, Roy Zhao, Nicolas Qiu, Lynn Wang, Lillie Gardner, Kenny Broberg, and Adam Birdsall. Another performer, Sulamita Yang, could not attend due to other commitments.
There were around 100 people in attendance and over US$1,300 was raised. All proceeds went towards earthquake relief and/or reconstruction.