Global odyssey: behind the artistry of Angela Cheng.

The morning after Election Day 2004, I sat across from Angela Cheng, the Conservatory building still quiet around us, grey mists still lingering on Oberlin's Tappan Square visible through the window behind her. It's remarkable, I thought. This must be the world's most balanced woman. An artist, a mother, a colleague, a wife, a teacher, a daughter, a collaborator--all rolled into one satisfied, smiling, apparently happy individual. In the course of our time together, Angela Cheng's exuberance, passion, laughter, concern and sense of mission surfaced in turn, playing across her face like wind on water.

Music is in her genes, it seems. After a visit to San Francisco, where he fell under the spell of western classical music, Angela's grandfather returned to Guangzhou Province in China to manufacture and sell traditional Chinese and Western instruments. All nine of his children (one of them Angela's mother) learned to play either piano or a string instrument.

At age 3, Angela began piano studies with her mother. With an entire family of music-making relatives surrounding them, a Suzuki-influenced mother-tongue approach almost was inevitable. Not long after, Angela's aunt, a professional piano instructor in Hong Kong, took over her tutelage. Piano study for children was well-established in Hong Kong, and Angela completed her share of the requisite ABRSM (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music) examinations and learned to enjoy performing in community festivals.

Looking for a new and better life, and wanting to leave behind the sorrow caused by the recent deaths of her husband and her mother, Angela's mother struck out in a bold new direction in the early 1970s, moving with Angela and her sister to the Canadian city of Edmonton, Alberta--a move of 6,500 miles and 32 degrees of latitude! Confronting a new culture, a new language and the harsher climes of the Canadian north, Angela's claim that her mother "was very brave" seems rather an understatement.

But life went on, and Angela speaks of the connections she made during those early years in Canada as precious and affirming. Angela's first Canadian piano teacher, discovered through a cousin, was Vera Shean. With her violinist husband, Shean ran a studio that Angela recalls as something like a second family. Saturday morning piano lessons, theory, chamber music, every-weekend concerts, even a subscription to hear the Edmonton Symphony, inspired the young musician, who practiced every day on a school piano because she had none at home. At age 14, a loaner instrument from the associate concert master of the Edmonton Symphony made it possible to practice at home until Angela was able to purchase her own first instrument with squirreled-away cash winnings from the city's annual Kiwanis Music Festivals.

After summer studies with Robin Wood in Victoria and Marek Jablonski in Banff, Angela pursued her studies with Ernesto Lejano, a former student of Cecile Genhart, who taught at the University of Alberta and the Banff Center. Philippino-born and Canadian-by-way-of-Spain, Lejano has been honored by many of his students as a life-changing influence. He died in 2000, the recipient of Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Alberta government and from the Congress of the Republic of the Philippines. He was hailed by Menahem Pressler as "one of the most important piano pedagogues in North America." Angela echoes these tributes, citing Lejano as her most important early influence. "He connected things--music and theory--and gave them context, things that had been separate for me until that time. He loved music so much and made music with such enthusiasm, passion, responsiveness."

Of course, "going into music" wasn't an acceptable professional goal, at least not from the family perspective. No intended disrespect to early recognition garnered from musical heavy weights, and never mind the genes--a medical career was what the family had in mind. Recognizing the treasure of Angela's musical talent, Lejano made certain that the young pianist had the opportunity to talk with and hear from every professional musician who came through Edmonton, that she received every possible encouragement from those "in the business." Finally, speaking for the family, Angela's uncle gave his blessing for two years to really pursue a career in music. Two years, but no more.

Moving On

Anne Burrows, then Edmonton music critic and teacher, recogized that Angela Cheng needed to "get out of Edmonton." So strong was her resolve, in fact, that she paid for the ticket to New York and the $95 lesson fee that put Angela and Sascha Gorodnitzki in the same orbit at The Juilliard School. Gorodnitzki offered the young Canadian a spot in his studio. This was exciting news, but reality dictated that a one-year deferment intervene, allowing time to raise funds for the venture, in 1979, the humble beginnings of the Anne Burrows Foundation for Young Musicians (ABFYM, first known as the Angela Cheng Foundation) comprised the bake sales, raffles and other community fundraising efforts that, together with a prestigious Canada Council grant, sent Angela to New York. The ABFYM still exists and has helped launch the international careers of such musicians as Juliette Kang, violin; Amanda Forsyth, cello; Jens Lindemann, trumpet; and Leslie Newman, flute.

Once in New York, Angela found herself surrounded by the musical cross-currents and excitement of the city. Here, she met studio mates and twins Alan and Alvin Chow, who helped ease her transition from the "provinces" to the metropolis, and the three remained fast friends. When the twins left Juilliard to continue their studies with Menahem Pressler at Indiana University, Angela was intrigued by the stories of their experiences there and their glowing reports about study with Pressler. One visit and a first-hand experience with Pressler's teaching left her anxious to pursue a new course, and leave New York. Though the transition was not without its bumps, Angela soon found herself in a place she very much wanted to be, and doing very much what she wanted to be doing.

For the next seven years, during which she completed a master's degree and began studies toward a D.M.A. degree, Angela worked to find her musical voice, mentored closely by Pressler. As she describes her experiences with him, it's clear that her debt of gratitude to him is profound. "He was a mentor in the truest sense of that word; the deepest core of my musical being was touched by his artistry and influence." She still credits Pressler with "putting it all together" for her, shaping the way she hears, plays and teaches, though she admits, "I wouldn't have been ready for his transformative influence without my previous experiences. The pieces had to be there to be pulled together." With Pressler's inspiration, her own drive and the encouragement of friends and family, Angela regularly spent five to seven hours daily at the piano, an amount that grew even larger as the prestigious Arthur Rubinstein International Masters Competition approached. Though she now thinks that may have been a near-unhealthy intensity, her efforts and commitment led to the gold medal Laureate prize at the 1986 competition. "I still love to practice, to fix things, to solve problems, to learn new things ... that gives me a lot of satisfaction," she says.

The practice room was clearly not Angela's only interest, however. In 1987 she married Alvin Chow, who by then had been a close friend for some years. Their performances as a duo-piano team began only after their marriage, however. Until then, Alvin and Alan had been the designated duo and duet pianists. Today, both pairings continue to perform regularly, albeit limited by distance and individual teaching and performing schedules. (Alan teaches at the Northwestern University School of Music in Evanston, Illinois.) "Duo playing seemed a natural thing to do, both of us being pianists," says Alvin. "And the fact that we have had the same teachers for a large part of our education helps a great deal. We can rehearse quickly and efficiently; not only is there a musical 'shorthand' in that we have a similar musical vocabulary, but we also see and hear things similarly, But that doesn't mean we don't have some very interesting 'discussions'!"

During her time at Indiana, Angela also sharpened her skills as a teacher, teaching group piano and studio piano to help pay for her studies. In 1988, she was the first Canadian to win the prestigious Montreal International Piano Competition and was awarded a coveted Career Development Grant by the Canada Council. In 1991 she received the Medal of Excellence at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, for her outstanding interpretations of Mozart's music. Her list of active orchestral repertoire includes all the Mozart concerti, reflecting her affinity for and personal resonance with the composer's sublime music.

Together, Angela and Alvin left Indiana in 1989, bound for Springfield, Missouri, where Alvin had accepted a teaching position. Angela's busy performing schedule continued with "concerts galore"--an exhilarating whirlwind of appearances entailing many exhausting miles of travel and extended times away from home.

No sooner had they arrived in Springfield, however, than an early retirement at the University of Colorado at Boulder prompted an eager request for Alvin to consider joining the faculty in the Rocky Mountain state. They headed west the following summer, Angela continuing her concertizing and travel. Nine years, two children and many concerts later, the two accepted the offer in 1999 to teach at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music just west of Cleveland, Ohio. Now performing even more concerts than previously, Angela maintains what could be a drainingly frenetic round of performing, teaching and managing the details of family life with apparent calm. Grandmother Cheng makes frequent visits from Canada, caring for Amanda and Alyssa (ages 8 and 6) while Morn is on the road performing, and Dad makes the quick daily commute into Oberlin from their home in nearby Lorain.

When asked to share her thoughts about classical music and music study in 2004 and her hopes and fears for the world of art music, Angela grew serious, citing aging audiences, financial challenges and changing artistic and social values as worries. "But," she smiles, "I'm optimistic. It's up to us to reach out, to share how wonderful this is, giving others the joy and pleasure we find in making music ourselves."

Piano Six

These are not empty words for Angela. In 1994, she was invited to join Piano Six, an innovative touring partnership, with fellow pianists Angela Hewitt, Jon Kimura Parker, Marc-Andre Hamelin, Andre LaPlante and Janina Fialkowska. Piano Six tours nurture the love of classical music in rural areas and small towns across Canada. World-renowned pianists sent into small or isolated communities help local music presenters attract and build audiences and start or continue vital concert series. Piano Six aims to help bring classical music to a generation growing up without easy access to it.

For a fraction of their usual fees, Piano Six artists committed ten days per season for ten years to travel alone to small communities in sometimes remote locations, giving public recitals, performing in schools, giving master classes and workshops and meeting with young musicians across a broad spectrum of development. In 2004, the group celebrated ten years of performing and the achievement of their laudable goals. After a temporary hiatus to expand and re-tool for a new-and-improved incarnation as Encore Six, the organization is up and running again, as of September 2004.

It's clear that music making occupies a position front and center in Angela's life. Even her answers to questions I posed to draw out other interests, or any not specifically music-related sides of her personality, eventually wound back to some version of, "I really love music, and want others to love it, too!" It's clear she loves to make music with others, too. Her long list of concerto performances with nearly every Canadian orchestra and with ensembles in Israel and across the United States, is augmented by her many felicitous collaborations with such chamber ensembles as the Takacs, Colorado and Vogler string quartets. Her own music making is intensified through working with other musicians, including her favorite in-house musician, her husband Alvin. Angela lists Hans Graf, Mario Bernardi and Bramwell Tovey as favorite conductors. Artists who have inspired her include Daniel Barenboim, Jacqueline Du Pres and Arthur Rubinstein.

Family Influence

I asked Angela how her life as a performing musician has changed since the birth of her daughters. She laughed as she said, "Children change everything! But seriously ... they give me a new perspective on what life's all about." Given her own early musical blooming and the new genetic infusion from the Chow side, there's been plenty of push to get the girls started early. They've both begun piano lessons, and their instinctive responses to music--humming, moving, singing, recognizing Mom's pieces on recordings--offer ample evidence that they love music, "But they hate to practice ... Dad has to play the bad cop." Spending as much time away from home as her performing schedule demands, practice time must do double duty--part working to nurture musical mastery and part cherishing a warm family closeness--when Angela is home.

Motherhood and juggling the demands of career and family also have taught Angela that twenty minutes actually is a significant chunk of time. Even the smallest window of opportunity can yield both pleasure and results. Gone are the days when it wasn't worth starting to practice unless several pristine and empty hours stretched ahead, waiting to be filled.

It would be hard to imagine that teaching and motherhood have not cross-pollinated to some degree in Angela's experience. She is passionate that her students pursue music because they love it--not for the achievement or the applause, but for its own sake. She wants them to view life and its potential opportunities realistically, to study as much and as broadly as they possibly can, to stay open to new experiences and ideas. Her words could apply equally to her wishes for her children. Both her aspirations and her actions speak her commitment to passing the love and knowledge of music to a new generation.

Angela also honors the essential connection between teaching and learning, between giving and receiving. Though apparent opposites, they are integrally connected, like two sides of the same coin or like an image and its negative. "Teaching has really helped my playing and vice versa. Teaching often helps to clarify for me what I am trying to accomplish in my own playing. There is nothing more exciting than seeing a light bulb go on.... I want to be the Menahem Pressler in my students' lives." Conversely, "To be a good teacher, you must first be a good player and performer, you must have the experience and be familiar with the process yourself."

In many ways, Angela has "made it." When asked if she had any plans for the future, any big projects in store, what she wants to accomplish, her reply again circled to a refrain that, to me, seems truly refreshing. "I just want to stay excited and happy and madly in love with what I'm doing." When asked if she had any words of wisdom for AMT readers: "We should feel grateful and privileged to be doing what we are doing, to do what we love as our profession, to be free and able to share the music we love with audiences, students and families."

A few mornings after our interview, I read Angela's press kit, which--though its glowing reviews only confirmed what I have already experienced firsthand--told the story of an artist and a life journey that have delightfully conspired to bring into being music described by the critics as "passionate," "sparkling," "gliding," "enthralling," "shimmering," "lustrous" ... and the list goes on.

Angela is represented by Michal Schmidt Artists International.

Andrew Hisey is associate professor of music at the Oberlin Conservatory. Hisey created Oberlin's Piano Lab program and co-directs the National Group Piano/Piano Pedagogy Forum.