Yujia "Cynthia" Zhang '17 showed last year at Wilbraham & Monson Academy that she is a gifted piano player.
Someone in China felt the same way.
Cynthia was invited to perform with the Kunming Symphony Orchestra in July. Playing as a guest performer, Cynthia was the only student among the musicians.
"The people who organize the symphony know I like to do something instead of service, like a lot of people, and they know I want to share music with everyone as my special after-class activity," said Cynthia, who plans to continue her piano playing in college. "My piano playing isn't at the top, but they think I have that mindset that I will share music."
Despite only having three weeks to prepare, Cynthia shared her piano playing with a few hundred people in the audience. She played three songs at the Chuncheng Theater by Japanese composer Joe Hisaishi.
"At first I was very nervous because I was playing in front of a few hundred people and I haven't seen that many people in an audience," she said. "And I was able to play with professional musicians from top music colleges in China and the rest of the world. I got to know these people and they were very nice.
"I was satisfied with how I played, even through I made tiny mistakes. But, in general, it sounded good and overall it was a great experience."