Young Chang
Eva Xia hesitantly admits she listens to hip-hop music and that her
favorite rapper is Tupac.
She seems embarrassed for some reason but when asked, says she isn't.
The 17-year-old also loves Martha Argerich, a renowned Argentine
pianist who Eva calls "absolutely awesome." Her music is subdued but has
so much meaning, technique and depth.
"She's like one of the most formidable women pianists," Eva said,
sounding out "formidable" because it's not a word teenagers use everyday.
Eva is formidable too, in her own way. Though it's only been three
weeks since the Monterey Park resident turned 17, though she scatters
words like "like" and "guess" in much of her speech, Eva is extraordinary
in that she's traveled the world playing the piano.
She will perform today as part of the Victoria Chamber Series at the
Unitarian Universalist Church in Costa Mesa, presenting a rare set of 30
variations by Bach and two pieces by Chopin. Other performances in the
series include piano duet team Penny Foster and M'lou Dietzer on Nov. 17,
clarinetist Hakan Rosengren and pianist Anne Epperson on Jan. 19 and
pianist Valentina Gottlieb on Feb. 16.
Dietzer, who is co-manager of the Victoria Chamber Series and a
professor emeritus at Cal State Fullerton's music department, said she
had heard about Eva through the years, especially when the child prodigy
performed last spring at the International Bach Festival in Germany.
"It's unusual for a 17-year-old student who has only studied for 10
years to have accomplished the ability to perform from memory the entire
Goldberg variations by Bach," Dietzer said. "It is not often performed
live on the concert stage so this will be a rare opportunity."
Eva and her family left China for America when she was just 6. That's
when she started piano lessons with a teacher who threw at her "insanely
difficult" pieces.
Her piano-playing was more her parent's doing in those days. Eva
decided to stop practicing once new teachers took their places at the
bench. She quelled the passion incited by those challenging first
lessons. By nine, Eva had stopped playing altogether.
But three years later, with the return of her first mentor, her
fingers graced the keys again.
"She really pushed me to go and try my best in everything," Eva said.
"She really made me work hard and I like that. The others -- they didn't
really care about me that much. They didn't care whether I practiced a
lot. It was her who really cared. And if she cared, I needed to work
harder."
