Madeleine Xiao, pianist. Third prize winner at the 2023 National Concerto Competition. Photo: Supplied/publisher
Madeleine Xiao, piano
Third prize winner at the 2023 National Concerto Competition in Christchurch
Madeleine Xiao was born in Auckland in 2005 and began learning the piano at age five. At the age of 16, she went on to study a Bachelor of Music at the University of Auckland and is currently under the tutelage of Dr Rae de Lisle, Bryan Sayer and Katherine Austin. Madeleine has achieved numerous top awards as well as scholarships where she has been generously supported by the Dame Malvina Major Foundation, Chiron Lewis Eady Foundation and Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra as a Haydn Staples Scholar for 2023. In 2022, Madeleine was a winner of the Auckland Youth Orchestra Piano Concerto Competition, where she received the opportunity to perform Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G in a concert tour with the orchestra, including a final concert at the Auckland Town Hall. She also won the 2022 University of Auckland School of Music Concerto Competition, playing Chopin’s Piano Concerto No.1 in E minor.
Apart from being a soloist, Madeleine is a passionate chamber musician and collaborative pianist. Her chamber group, Kaha Trio, has been selected as an Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra Aspiring Musicians Ensemble and performs regularly across Auckland and its wider regions. She has also been selected to attend the 2023 Adam Chamber Music Festival in Nelson. Madeleine plays for several choirs and accompanies for events, such as the Big Sing and the ANZAC Day Dawn Service at the Auckland Museum.
I have chosen to play this concerto as Chopin is a composer who speaks to me like no other and this concerto is just so captivating. As I play this piece I am able to set myself free and build a connection with the music. Since first hearing this work many years ago, it’s always been something I wanted to play. Now, actually working on it, I’ve grown to appreciate it even more. I have loved exploring this piece and digging deep into the music, unravelling all the unique and intricate layers it has to offer.
I decided to enter this competition as it is an excellent opportunity to help me to grow and develop into a better musician. It will provide me with many new skills and experiences which can benefit my future music-making. This competition has already been a fantastic journey, and I am incredibly grateful to have this opportunity to work with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra performing this wonderful work.
- Madeleine Xiao
Frédéric Chopin
Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor Op. 11
Allegro maestoso
Romanze – Larghetto
Rondo – Vivace
Performed by Madeleine Xiao (piano) with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Benjamin Northey in the Douglas Lilburn Auditorium of the Christchurch Town Hall, 18 March, 2023
Frédéric Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist born in 1810. The majority of his compositions were for solo piano, as he was the first composer to write specifically for the instrument. These included nocturnes, waltzes, preludes, etudes, mazurkas, polonaises, and sonatas. He was also known for his concertos, chamber works and Polish songs. Today, he is still regarded as one of the greatest musicians, whose “poetic genius was based on a professional technique that was without equal in his generation”, according to the late American concert pianist Charles Rosen.
The Piano Concerto No.1 in E minor, Op.11, was composed in 1830 when Chopin, aged 20, was in Warsaw. Although this was published as the first concerto, it is actually his second as the Concerto No.2 in F minor, Op.21 was written just a few years earlier. At the concerto’s premier, Chopin himself was the soloist as part of a special concert before he travelled from Warsaw to Paris.
The three movements of the concerto display richness, nostalgia, and brilliance taking us on a captivating and emotional journey. The first movement, Allegro maestoso, is in sonata form and begins with an extended orchestral introduction that presents the three main themes of the movement. Movement two, marked Romanze, is one of those moments in which the heart gets lost in nostalgic bliss.
As described by the composer in a letter to a friend, “the Adagio of my new concerto is not meant to create a powerful effect: it is rather a Romance, calm and melancholy giving the impression of someone looking gently towards a spot which calls to mind a thousand happy memories. It is a kind of reverie in the moonlight on a beautiful spring evening.” The last movement, a rondo, is based on a Polish folk dance, the Krakowiak. The soloist immediately presents the highly energetic and spirited dance, which recurs throughout the movement with many variations before ending with an exciting race across the keys in virtuosic splendour.
