King’s Music Scholar Jia Jie Huang gives World-class Piano Recital

A good-sized audience, including a number of staff and pupils from both the Senior School and King’s St Alban’s, were privileged to attend a world-class piano recital last Thursday by Jia Jie Huang in Worcester Cathedral. His programme opened with a nimble and lithe Scarlatti Sonata, before exploring some major pieces by Schubert, Chopin, Liszt and Rachmaninov, concluding with a jazzy Toccata by Friedrich Gulda. Liszt’s Un Sospiro was beautifully poised, no hint of technical complexities hindering the expressive melodic lines and rippling accompaniments. Chopin’s Ballade in G minor covered a huge range of emotional detail, all delivered, as was the rest of the programme, with the rare combination (in any age of performer) of flawless technical skill married with a flexible and expressive musicality. This was a wonderful and thrilling recital – do go and hear him over the next few years. It will be fascinating to see how he continues to develop his skills and what repertoire he chooses to explore.