Thank you. Welcome to another episode of The
Pianopod, everyone. This season, we are exploring
creativity and connection, highlighting artists
who are reshaping what it means to create, teach,
and inspire in the modern world of classical
music. Today's guest, Anli Ling Tong, is a concert
pianist, educator, and lecturer whose work beautifully
bridges art, history, and faith. Born and raised
in Taiwan during a time of martial law, An Li
came to the United States all by herself as a
child to study piano at Juilliard, an act of
courage and independence that would shape her
life and artistry. A Juilliard -trained musician
and lifelong educator, she has since dedicated
her career to sharing music as a force for reflection,
healing, and human connection. Most recently,
Anli organized a deeply moving event titled Bells
of Nagasaki, Music for Contemplation, a concert
that commemorated the moment when, for the first
time in 80 years, both Bells of Nagasaki's historic
Urakami Cathedral rang together again, a sound
silenced since the atomic bombing of 1945. In
our conversation, Anli reflects on the powerful
story behind this project. her father's enduring
influence, her family's rare journey of faith
from Taiwan to Catholicism, and how music became
her way to honor remembrance and hope. We also
explore her artistic lineage through her mentor,
the legendary pianist Mircheslav Muntz, and her
insights as a devoted teacher who believes artistry
must be planted from the very first lesson. Before
we dive in, thank you to our listeners for tuning
in and supporting The Piano Pod. Your encouragement,
whether through sharing episodes, leaving a review,
or simply listening, helps sustain this growing
community of artists and thinkers who are redefining
what it means to make music today. Here is Season
6, Episode 8 of The Piano Pod with concert pianist
and educator Anli Ling Tong. Please enjoy the
show. You are listening to The Piano Pod, where
we talk to the brightest minds in the industry
about how they are bringing the piano into the
future and thriving in a complex, ever -evolving
world. Ali, welcome to The Piano Pod. Thank you
so much for being here today. Well, thank you,
Yukimi, for having me on. Thank you very much.
Thank you. And I'm truly excited to explore your
journey, your artistry, musical lineage, and
then the deeply moving Bells of Nagasaki project
with you. But first, let's start with our tradition,
iconic opening question. So you built such a
successful career as a concert pianist, educator,
and lecturer. What would you say is the core
passion or mission that ties all these worlds
together? Well, that is such an amazing question,
Yukimi, and it's all encompassing. And I think
that maybe something that we can save for the
end, and it might make more sense how these threads
all come together. Yeah, that sounds great. All
right, so can we get into the bells of Nagasaki
Music for Contemplation project? Of course. That's
great. So this was such a special concert held
on August 3rd. So this past August at St. John
Fisher Church in Rancho Palos Verdes, which is
L .A. in California, and commemorated a profound
moment when, for the first time in 80 years,
both bells of Nagasaki's historic urakami cathedral
rang together again a sound silenced for the
since the atomic bombing of 1945 which is uh
80 years ago wow so now for listeners and viewers
that might sound simple at first but this story
has so many layers and dots to connect history
faith family, people, and music. So, Anli, could
you start by telling us what was the Bells of
Nagasaki concert about, and why did this moment
feel so important for you to share through music?
Okay, thank you for the question, and you're
right. This is something that just pulls together
so many things. History, music, faith, geography.
And really, in the end, it's all about the people
who receive the message. And we're talking about
something that happened, as you said, 80 years
ago. But my connection with the Nagasaki Bells
began with a song. And I like to say the power
of one song. You know, we never know what's something
that we come across on a daily basis as innocuous
as maybe a word, a phrase, a passing glance.
And in my case, this is just a song that my father
sang toward the end of his life. He was living
in a senior community outside of Taipei in Taiwan.
My mother had already passed eight years before
that. And one of his favorite things to do was
to go to the karaoke room in the facility. And
he would always pick this one song. And of course,
on the karaoke machine, you can see the images.
And I see footages of this old Japanese movie.
And then my dad would sing the song in Japanese.
I do not speak Japanese. So I asked my dad, what
is this song about? Because he sang it every
day. And after... the karaoke session as we walk
back to his room he would tell me the story and
then this would repeat every day. So I began
to wonder why was this song important for my
father because I didn't hear it in the earlier
years of my father's life. So long story short
let's move to 2025. This year was the 10th anniversary
of my dad's passing. And I had wanted to do something
with music to honor his memory. My father especially
loved church bells. And then I thought about
Nagasaki bells. Because in the last 10 years,
I have found out from my own research a lot more
about the story. And I thought it would be nice
to tie the idea of... The theme of bells in music,
and we have many examples of that, right? As
well, and to somehow incorporate the Nagasaki
bells for the historic dimension. Then I realized
that this year was the 80th anniversary of the
bombing of Nagasaki. So I started to put this
together, but it was just an idea that was percolating
in my mind. And I was thinking that I would do
it later in the year because I was recovering
and I am still recovering from a hand injury
that I had a finger fracture in January 2024.
And as a pianist, you know that, you know, these
things take a long time. Even when the splint
came off the finger heel, but the rest of the
hand, I developed secondary injuries. So it wasn't
so easy to play. So I wanted to do it. toward
the end of the year, but something happened.
And I think synchronicity would be one of the
themes that could be included into your big question.
What are the things that pull things together?
And when you look back in life, I think everyone
would have the same, similar maybe thoughts that,
wow, something that happened then. I never knew
that it would have a certain significance 20
years later, 15 years later. And so the synchronicity
of events, one of the first things that came
up was I became a Catholic three years ago during
the COVID pandemic. So in the last three years,
I've been... Also learning about this new faith.
I'm fourth generation Presbyterian. So my family
is very, very devoted to the church and from
the day that I was born, but I am the first Catholic.
So in my desire to learn more about my Catholic
journey, I have been reading and then I was connected
with an institute that was. founded by the Archbishop
of San Francisco, Cordiglione. And he set up
the Benedict XVI Institute. And the whole purpose
of this institute is to promote beauty in worship.
And I didn't know anything. I just needed to
go somewhere and contemplate because I was in
Taiwan earlier in the year to... to mark the
10 -year anniversary for my dad. So we had some
family memorial that included friends. But when
I came back, I was once again sick. And, you
know, I'm not a good traveler, so these things.
As I was recovering, I was contemplating a lot
about what I would do. And then I thought, okay,
I received an invitation to join an artist retreat.
near Stanford, San Francisco, that was sponsored
by the Archbishop of San Francisco. I had no
idea whatsoever what that was. I thought, okay,
a retreat is something that I go to, you know,
to enjoy solitude, to meditate. And this is about
arts and faith. It was very much along the line
that I have found myself. on this path in the
last three years because of my new faith journey
and many, many things in my life. I went through
major upheavals in my life in the last 15, 20
years. So these things, you know, it puts one
in a mental space. And as musicians and artists,
we're always looking inward. What does music
say and what do I bring? to my art. So these
have been constant themes and threads in my thought
over the past few years. So then I went there
and I did not expect to find the amazing, amazing
collection of personalities that had gathered.
It was a very exclusive group, not many, maybe
15 to 20 participants, but we had the most prominent.
architect in Catholic architecture, a great man
who has built the most beautiful Catholic cathedrals
and shrines in the United States. We had the
poet, a former poet laureate of the state of
California sharing his new play on Seneca. It
was an immersion, an abundance of riches, and
it just stimulated my mind so much. And toward
the end of the retreat, we were to share about
what we envision as our new projects that we
would do to embark on to bring beauty and art
together with. you know, worship and faith. And
this was something that Archbishop Cordiglione
was really wanting to promote and bring back
to the church. And the idea of the Nagasaki and
the bell concert was so, it's just in a gestational
stage in my mind. And because I went there without
any kind of expectation, I did not know that
I would have to offer anything, but I did. And
to my surprise, Archbishop Cordelion loved the
idea. He was very interested in the Nagasaki
story. So he greatly encouraged me. And also
other attendees at the conference came up and
spoke to me after I shared my idea and said,
Anli, you must do this. So we're talking about
middle of June. I came back and I thought, OK,
what am I going to do? The bells, in the meantime,
I found out that American Catholics have gotten
together under the leadership of a professor
at Williams College in Massachusetts. His name
is Dr. Nolan, James Nolan, who started to raise
funds in 2024, just a year ago, to build a new
bell. To bring to Nagasaki. So here's the Nagasaki
story. Would you like me to talk about? Oh, yeah,
yeah. So you're talking about Urakami Cathedral,
right? So it's a historic church. Yes. Let's
talk about the bells first. Yes. Yes. So what
happened to the bells? OK, so now we have to
go back to history. 1945, August 9th. You know,
the. the bomb was dropped over Nagasaki. And
Nagasaki has been traditionally the center of
Japanese Catholics, which was always a very,
very small minority. And Urakami was the main
cathedral that had two bell towers. And when
the bomb fell, it fell very close to the cathedral.
Many, many Catholics perished on that day. And
out of the two bell towers, both of them were
destroyed. heavily damaged. One was completely
destroyed. The other one was heavily damaged,
but they were able to salvage it. So since 1945,
the two bell towers, one has been completely
empty. And there's just the remains of the charred
bell that has been on display and has never been
replaced. So Urakami Cathedral has operated with
just one bell. And so Dr. Nolan's idea was, well,
he had visited Nagasaki. And here's another amazing
story. Dr. Nolan's connection to Nagasaki, his
grandfather was involved in the Manhattan Project
that developed the atomic bomb. Wait, wait, wait.
Dr. Nolan's father? His grandfather. A grandfather.
Oh, my goodness. Yes. So he went to Nagasaki
and he spoke. This is Dr. Nolan Jr. who is currently
the professor at Williams College. He went and
he met with the Nagasaki Christians, and one
of the faithful congregants there came up and
spoke to Dr. Nolan and said, wouldn't it be wonderful
if during my lifetime I could see both bells
again? And Dr. Nolan was so moved by that, he
came back to the United States and began the
project, which is called the Nagasaki Bell Project.
Now, I mentioned earlier that these past few
years since my dad's passing, I have always regularly
Googled Nagasaki Bells, just to learn about what,
and this is when I... came across the website
that was taking donations for the rebuilding
of the new bell. And I wanted to do something,
you know, in memory of my father. So I made a
very small donation in 2024, just a very modest.
So then a few months later, in April, May, Right
before I went to the retreat in June, I received
an acknowledgement letter from Dr. Nolan, but
I didn't look at things carefully. But when I
came back from the retreat, the idea had solidified
in my mind that I would do a concert in time
for the August 8th. August 9th anniversary. But
I did not know at that point that the new bell
was going to be installed on that day. It was
going to be rung to two bells together the first
time in 80 years. So when I heard that, I wrote
to Dr. Nolan and I said, I just want to let you
know that And I shared with him a little bit
about my father's story, how I learned about
the Nagasaki bells because he sang the song and
it has stayed with me all these years. And it
planted a seed to my becoming Catholic, you know,
10 years later. And I'm giving a concert and
Dr. Nolan wrote back and he was very interested
in my concert. And so he told me that the bells
were already at that point on the way to Nagasaki
and the new bell would be. consecrated and blessed
at an installation ceremony on July 16th in Nagasaki.
And then both bells would be rung together exactly
at the time, 1103, I believe, on August 9. That's
the time 80 years ago that the bomb fell. And
it just gave me chills when I... Learned about
that. So I went to my church. My new pastor had
just come in, Monsignor Antonio. He came in on
July 2nd. And I said, I would like to do a concert
here. Would you approve it? And he loved the
idea. So I had, what, four weeks to pull this
together. Oh, my goodness. And that's why it
was incredible. And this is the genesis of the
concert. Wow. It's just so many layers, as I
mentioned. It's just so beautifully, like timely,
timely wise, like put together. And so I want
to know about the song, the song that your father
used to sing. The title was The Bells of Nagasaki,
right? So he loved to sing, to sing the song
because. He lived in Japan shortly. He studied
in Tokyo right around that time. He was a medical
student at Tokyo University. And he was actually
in Tokyo during the ally raids that bombed Tokyo.
So that was in May of 1945, just a few months
before the bombs. The bombs fell in Hiroshima
and Nagasaki, which brought the war to an end.
But this part of the history, I only learned
this year during my research of my father's story.
So it just made everything more poignant to me
to know that my father was actually in Tokyo.
And maybe this is why the bombing, by the time
of the Nagasaki bomb, my father had already left
Japan, I believe. Because since he was a student
in Tokyo and the university, his dormitory, everything
was just in ruins, which is nothing but ashes.
And many people died. And there was a phrase
that he used in his autobiography about his experience.
He said, I had nothing. All that remained was
the shirt on my back. So he eventually went back
to Taiwan and he did finish his last year of
medical school at Taiwan University Medical College.
So he did not complete his studies in Tokyo because
there was nothing left. So the song was the seed.
And, you know, because of the song, I was able
to research about the Nagasaki story. But in
terms of how I would. I'm a pianist. I'm not
singing. And so again, I went back to the theme
of bells and I was able to pull together. I wanted
to, I call it the concert, I gave it the title
of music for contemplation. It's in the middle
of summer. We're in Southern California. Everybody's
out. We're going to the beach. Who wants to come?
to hear a concert about atomic bomb i didn't
think that i would be able to have many people
but i wanted to do it you know as just to to
mark the the occasion and to to honor my father's
memory um so i i had a piece the um rachmaninoff
Prelude in G sharp minor, which I love to play.
And I want to talk about that piece a little
bit because that piece was used by one of the
big churches in New York City during COVID to
mark the first anniversary of COVID lockdowns.
And the Marvel Collegiate Church, their wonderful
tech department, used my recording and made a
video montage. And that was beautiful. And I
saw how people responded to that. There's a part
in the G -sharp minor prelude when I studied
with my great teacher Vitaly Margulis, who was
Russian himself. He told me, Anli, do you hear
the Russian bells in there? And I did not even
think about it. And he was the one that really
made me realize that Rachmaninoff loved. Because
church bells rang every day to mark the hours
in St. Petersburg, in Moscow, the big cathedrals.
So the Russian consciousness is very much, you
know, church bells is very much in their recess
consciousness. And Rachmaninoff's music is full
of the bell. because I wasn't planning to do
a big program, again, because my hand had not
recovered. So I wanted to open with that. But
then I had recently performed the Rachmaninoff
Trio Elegiac in G minor, actually about a year
ago. That was right before I injured my hand.
And that was a very special occasion also because
that piece, Rachmaninoff wrote it when his mentor
Tchaikovsky died. So it has that memorial aspect.
So we ended up opening the program with a trio
and I dedicated to all the lost souls from the
atomic bombings. And so we had a very solid opening
with the G minor. trio, and then followed by
the G sharp minor prelude because of the Russian
bells. And then after that, I followed it with
a short piece by composer Frank La Rocca, who
is considered the most, his Mass for the Americas
was commissioned by Archbishop Cordileone. It's
over an hour long. And so he's considered the
most significant Catholic composer of our time.
And I came across an early work of his before
he started writing all this liturgical music.
And it's called Meditation. And he wrote it for
a friend who passed also. So it fit very, very
nicely. It's entitled Meditation. And he actually
came to the concert. It was a great honor that
he came. Even though the piece was only three
and a half minutes, he drove two hours from Claremont
to come to my concert and just... It just, you
know, it just fits so beautifully. And again,
because it was very meditative and also, you
know, for a friend to have passed. Then I played
also, and it included, do you know the Earl Wilde
transcriptions? He wrote a set of transcriptions
on Rachmaninoff songs. Oh, I do not know Rachmaninoff.
I studied a little bit with Earl and he helped
me greatly, especially with Gershwin's Rhapsody
in Blue when I was preparing that piece for orchestra
performances. He was the most direct link I could
find that's still living back to the, you know,
Tim Pan Alley era. And so I was very inspired
with what he shared with me. So he gave me...
some gifts, which include his recordings of his
transcriptions. So I listened to those songs
every day and I fell in love with them. And there
was one in particular that I learned right away.
It's based on Rachmaninoff's song, Oh, Do Not
Grieve. And the poetry is beautiful. It's based
on the song by a Russian poet. Rachmaninoff wrote
it first as a song. And then... Earl Wilde took
Rachmaninoff's song and transcribed it for the
piano. It's a gorgeous transcription that I have
played many times. So I incorporated it into
this program because I wanted the program to
acknowledge the loss, to acknowledge the sorrow,
to acknowledge all the mourning, but I wanted
to bring it from that point on to something more
hopeful. And Oh Do Not Grieve, the text begins
with... Oh, do not grieve. Oh, do not grieve.
But you must live. It is our part to live. And
it is the angel sent by God to wipe our tears.
So I want to bring it out of that. And that's
actually underlined by Dr. Nagai, who wrote the
book, The Bells of Nagasaki. He himself, his
wife passed. in the cathedral bombing. And he
died a couple of years later. And he's devoted
his life to writing about the Nagasaki story
and to encourage people to focus on forgiveness
and hope. And that's the symbol. That's what
the bell symbolizes. It's the message of forgiveness
and hope. So I needed to... end on a note of
hope so oh do not grieve was my transition and
then i went um into actually our music director
is a wonderful trumpet player so he played uh
ave maria caccini's ave maria trumpet and i played
it with him and you know it's like a vocalese
sure No words, but everyone knows the text of
Ave Maria. It's a prayer and also a prayer for
the dead, as well as, you know, prayer for the
hope for, you know, our next life in eternity.
And that was gorgeous. And then I ended my solo
part with this, the concert etude in D flat,
which everyone knows as Un Suspiro. And I love
playing that piece in conjunction with my faith
-themed recitals, which I began to organize a
few years ago. I call it music and musings. I
would use either a verse, a Bible verse, or a
poem that evokes faith. There's a Bible verse
from Romans 8 that says, when we do not know
how to... pray, when we have no words to pray,
the Holy Spirit is uttering, making utterances
or sighs for our prayers. So when I saw the title,
this Unsa Spirit, which means a sigh, I loved
it. So I used that for my performances with that
verse. But for this program, somehow I began
to realize that the ending Actually, he wrote
a second ending. You know how lists always have
alternate endings to his pieces. He did that,
but there's an alternate ending that has a descending
bass and the chords in the right hand just ascends
higher and higher. And that's not often done
in performances. He wrote as an alternate. ending
but nobody uses it but for my program it is that
ending that just makes all the difference because
it sounds like the low bells in the tolling of
the low bells and the right hand ascending is
the ascend the ascending of hope it's an upward
you know We're looking heavenward. And that actually
encapsulates Franz Liszt for me as well. I put
that in my program notes. Liszt was a man of
duality. All his life, he lived as very much
a man of the world, right? But he very much also
wanted to be a priest. There's a faith aspect
that he was always in this tug of war. Toward
the end of his life, he actually went much, much
more toward the spiritual aspect. So that alternate
ending with the low descending baseline and the
ascending... you know, he loved to use augmented
chords, right? He would go from diminished to
major to augmented, which was his way, his musical
language. Whenever he used augmented chords,
it symbolizes heaven. So I did that. And that
was my transition. And I asked the organist to
chime on the organ with the bell chimes. And
I explained to my audience that this is, our
anticipation of the ringing of the bells that
would take place in Nagasaki on August 9th. So
we chimed 10 times because on August 9th, they
would ring the bells at the 11th hour in the
morning. So that was my prelude to Nagasaki.
And just an unbelievable set of circumstances
we were able to get. the score, which was very
hard to come by, of the song of Nagasaki itself
that my dad sang. Yes. And it was actually a
theme song of the movie based on Dr. Takashi
Nagai. That's the man who wrote the Nagasaki
story. Let's clarify a little bit, Dr. Nagai,
because it sounds like, you know, the root of
this whole project, well, for you, this concert
comes from that song, right? So I didn't realize
it's the theme song from the movie based on Dr.
Takashi Nagai. You mentioned his wife passed
away during the atomic bomb. And he survived.
But I think a few years later, he also passed
away. He had major health issues after the atomic
bombing. But he was writing a memoir or something
like that? Yes. He was a radiologist. So he was
actually working in the hospital when the bombs
fell. And that's why he was far away from the
cathedral where that was the center where the
bomb had the most damage. So he went back to
the ruins. And the only thing he found, because
everything was ashes, and he found his wife's
rosary among the ashes. And that was how he could
identify his wife's remains. And so based on
that, he wrote a book of the story. And he said
that finding the rosary gave him a lot of comfort
because he realized that meant that his wife
had the rosary and she was praying until the
moment of her death and that she was most likely
very much at peace. And so that was the basis
of his book called The Bells of Nagasaki. In
Japanese, it's called Nagasaki no Kane. Kane
is bells. And that book became the basis of a
movie that came out around 1950. The movie was
made and became a big hit. So the song, Nagasaki
Bells, that my father sang, was that theme song
from the movie. So it was a kind of a popular
arrangement, you know, that's why it was in karaoke.
And I wanted to, I wanted to find a way to have
that song sung, but it has to be sung in Japanese.
But first of all, we could not find even my music
director, we Google, we could not find even a
score of that. song and but somehow you know
with with help from my son -in -law who's a music
consultant in in New York he was able to find
a four -part you know choir arrangement but it's
in Japanese so we were able to find an English
translation and a kind lady from church then
inserted the English translation but it also
the Japanese pronunciation right into the score.
So our church choir, none of them spoke Japanese.
They were able to learn to sing the song in Japanese.
And that became the finale of the concert. And
it was an amazing moment. And people were in
tears. It was so, so, so moving. And my part
was done by then. I just sat in the front pew
and I enjoyed. hearing the song. And it was an
amazing kind of a full circle moment. So many
elements just came together as one. But I think
you also have to mention that the church itself
had some sort of a meaning, right? The church
that you performed at. Is that the church that
you belong to? Yes, it's my parish. And so I
have been a parishioner only for three years.
And because Because of the COVID pandemic, when
I became a church member, I really didn't know
too many people. And so to pull this together,
I barely knew the music director. But without
his help, we could not have made this happen.
So Grant Hungerford, who was the trumpet, also
the music director, he became my partner in all
of this. And also my sponsor into the church,
Lenay Belsky, helped me to coordinate a lot of
things. So it was just all of these things together.
And I did not know that people were... resonate
with the story so much. In fact, another friend
came and said, well, this is such an amazing
story. We must get the local press to cover it,
maybe even just an announcement. And lo and behold,
they asked me for an interview and they said,
well, just be a very short interview, a very
short article, maybe just a mention of the story.
And then three days later, they called me. They
said they would make it the cover story. Oh,
my goodness. Wow. Three days after our interview,
two days before the magazine had to go to print,
they called me and said, we're going to make
this the cover story. And the writer, Bondo Vistanuski,
I'm sorry, I just said it wrong, Vispolsky, Bondo,
he did such an amazing article and laid out the
whole history. And he included my father's photo.
It says the bells may stop, but the ringing continues.
He included a picture of the before and after
picture of the Nagasaki Cathedral. And it's just
an amazing story that he, as you said, there
are so many layers to this story. I don't know
how after one hour of interview, he was able
to. pull all these threads together. And I have
a feeling because I was expecting 75 to 100 people
at most, because so many people were either away
traveling or, you know, during the summertime.
Yeah, exactly. You know, half of the people that
heard about the concert said, I'm so sorry, we
had planned a long time ago to be away, you know.
So I told the church asked me how many programs
and I said, Well, maybe 100, maybe 75 people
will come and I'll keep a few extra copies. They
ended up printing 300. I guess they knew better.
And the day after the concert, the music director
called me and he said, Anli, do you know we ran
out of programs? And I said, I didn't know. I
could see it was a full house. He said 500 people.
The concert. Oh, my goodness. Wow. And so you're
talking about a local church with a last minute
concert that pulled together. Something touched
people about this concert. What do you think
that was? You know, it's very interesting. And
I couldn't put my finger on it. And even as we
got closer to the concert that whole week, and
I was going crazy because I was writing the program
notes. And then I had my... One rehearsal with
my trio, and then I incorporated poetry reading
as part of the program. For example, before the
Rachmaninoff, I asked someone to recite, you
know, the John Donne poem, All for Whom the Bell
Tolls. It's a beautiful poem. So I had asked
one of the lectern recitation. We have people
that recite. Bible passages. And here's a gentleman,
Anthony, who has a beautiful South African accent.
And I said, would you kindly do the honor of
reciting the poem for whom the bell tolls? And
even before the concert, he came to me and he
said, Anli, something about your concert touches
a nerve in our community. But at that time, I
didn't know what he meant. It was after the concert.
And I saw how many people showed up. You know,
I don't know where the people came from. And
then in the greet and meet afterwards, people
were coming up in tears. And then my friends
were sending me text messages. They were overhearing
things when they went to the parking lot. They
overheard what people were saying. It's from
these peripheral things that I began to understand
the power of music. It had to come through music.
And that was what I could offer. But when you
use music in a way that I think goes right back
to what Johann Sebastian Bach, one of my... just
one of my all -time sources of inspiration for
music. He said, and I will read the quote, Bach
wrote this in 1738. He said, the original cause
of finish and end of all music should be nothing
other than... to be for the worship of god and
the re -creation of the spirit and i think for
me it goes back to that this is you know for
pianists our music doesn't go much further back
than johann sebastian bach and so all the inspiration
i and i share with this with my students all
the time that bach his insignia was sdg every
piece at the end of a piece he signs his name
with sdg and what does that mean soli deo gloria
which means for god's for god's glory alone and
that was his purpose for his music and if we
go back to that If we're able to use music for
that end, the original cause of finish and end
of music, this is exactly what he said, should
be for nothing other than for the worship of
God, only to his, all for God's glory. So I think
this was a case where the music and the God element,
because it came from What was in my heart and
also the message of the bells, the suffering
of the Nagasaki Christians, which did not begin
with a Nagasaki bombing. Actually, the story
of the Nagasaki Christian began in the 16th century
when the European missionaries first converted,
started to convert Japanese locals. And the shoguns
did not like that. the Catholics were made to
choose between their allegiance to the shoguns
or to God. And if they chose God, they would
be crucified. So there were many, many Christians
that were crucified along with the missionaries.
And then after that, for centuries, they went
into hiding. And in fact, the year after my father
passed away, you know, because I kept this idea
in my mind, Martin Scorsese. The big Hollywood
name director came out with a movie called Silence.
Do you know that movie? No, I'm not familiar.
And it means silence. It's exactly about those
16th century Japanese Christians who were crucified.
And so when that movie came out, I thought, oh,
wow. And I still wasn't a Catholic yet. I was
wondering why my father left me with this. seed
in my heart. So I paid a lot of attention to
anything that fell in line. And I thought, well,
you know, one year after my father's death, this
big movie that won all kinds of Academy Awards
is exactly about that story that my dad told
me. He didn't tell me just about Dr. Nagai and
Nagasaki. He told me about the 16th century Christians
that were crucified. So again, it goes back,
and it's amazing how these things align. My father's
song, the stories he told me, and the way the
last 10 years unfolded, that takes me right back
to 80 years ago, March this year. And I don't
know, it's the confluence of events. if you are
a christian and this is my perspective everything
comes from this perspective is there's the spirit
is at work and you know where you think that
things are not quite possible because of limitation
in time the limitation of my own piano technique
you know How could I make this happen? And how
did so many people come? Why were they so, so
moved? And I kept thinking, it's not about me.
That was one thing that I received, a message
that I received. It's not about me. I was just
a vessel. Even music itself is a vessel. Right.
But how are you processing right now? I still
feel the passion and heat. Coming from you, I
feel like you're still like maybe processing
the event. Yes. So the event, it was almost a
way, a door, a new door that opened. Yes, the
event is finished and we can't do this because
the 80th anniversary of the bombing is done.
So that whole part is closed. But what it showed
me was. Very much in terms of my personal, and
we can say passion or my goal, my inspiration.
And it goes right back to my childhood. And things
are now beginning to make sense. When I began
piano as a five -year -old in Taiwan as a child,
and my family being very devoted Christians in
the Presbyterian Church, I was sent very early
on to study music in New York. And so I lived
on my own since, you know, sixth grade and in
elementary school in this country without my
family. And it was always impressed upon me by
my parents that my music was to serve God. But
all these years, I didn't understand how I was
to do that. Does that mean just playing as a
church pianist, which I did a lot, you know,
even all those years when I was growing up, wherever
I was at a church, if we were there for more
than a year, I would, you know, help out to be
the church pianist. And if I went back to Taiwan,
I would play for services. But, you know, I think
God has something else in mind because I look
back to my life and I said, I didn't have to
leave home. to go to a foreign country, to be
a pianist, to do that. Plenty of pianists can
do that, right? And I think now my life makes
sense because of all these things, because of
what I have gone through, because of my family
background and the seed that was planted very
early on, what the music was for, which coincides
exactly with what Bach wrote. It's nothing. for
nothing else but for the worship of God. I guess
I want to talk about your father now, and he
nurtured your talent. And he literally tutored
you at the piano, right? So there's a special
connection to this concert you mentioned that
the inspiration came from your father's singing
this song at karaoke, right? But then there is
a lot more story with your father's relationship.
So can you tell us about how did you, you briefly
mentioned you about... how you started your musical
journey and it came to the United States on your
own. But let's start with your father. Yes. So
my father was by profession, a doctor, a surgeon,
and he had quite an extraordinary life. In fact,
there are documentaries about him and books about
him. Really? Yes. So he, you know, we can consider
his life was really. a product of time and place
time being the upheavals of world war ii and
the subsequent political changes in taiwan which
is my native homeland and the so Just to kind
of make it short, after he came back from Japan
because Tokyo was bombed, he came back to Taiwan
and began his studies at Taiwan's, it's the most
elite medical school, the Taiwan University Medical
School. But around the same time in 1948, 49,
Taiwan had just... was coming out of the Japanese
colonial era. And because Japan lost the war,
the allies took over Taiwan, but they didn't
have a chance to settle the question of what
was Taiwan going to be. And China, in China,
the civil war broke out between the communists
and the nationalists, and the nationalists lost.
So if you remember, in World War II, The Allies
included China, the United States, and Great
Britain. The Axis included Japan and Germany,
you know, and Italy. So Japan and China were
opposite ends. For my father's generation, they
went through a period. They thought they were
Japanese because they grew up under 50 years
of Japanese colonial governance. For my parents,
Japanese was almost like their native tongue.
And they didn't even know anything about China.
And then after the war, that's gone. And a new
government came to Taiwan first. was supposed
to be a government in exile because when they
lost to the communists the united states being
allied partners with the nationalists during
world war ii wanted to help them so they said
come over to taiwan which is under u .s jurisdiction
and wait you know and stay here and they were
hoping to fight back to recover all of China.
That never happened. So that nationalist government
became entrenched in the Taiwanese geography,
the territory. But of course, as you know, when
you have these forces that conflict, the Japanese
made Taiwan a very organized But most people
spoke Japanese and the Chinese came. There was
a lot of conflict. So out of these conflicts,
people were arrested, of course, you know, and
the nationalists began 40 to almost 50 years
of martial law. It's the longest period of martial
law in the world. So there was, you know, it
was just they call it the white. terror era.
And during that period, my father with his university
medical school classmates, lots of them were
all arrested because they participated in reading
clubs that they were reading books that were
not, you know, approved by the nationalist government.
And instead of, you know, looking at everybody's
record, they just rounded everybody up. And then
all these prisoners, because Taiwan is a small
island, so they were all shipped to a remote
island. It's called the Green Island. So my father
was a political prisoner for seven to eight years.
Yeah, so this was all the time before I was born.
So I did not know anything about my father's
life. So that's a whole different story. And
it's a beautiful, actually a beautiful story
that's come out of that. I gave a lecture once,
I call it... They sang and sang because I learned
later on when I visited my father toward the
end of his life that many of those inmates, they
were highly educated people, you know, lots of
doctors, lawyers. And, you know, my father had
his fellow doctors, too. And they were, you know,
part of their education. A lot of them love classical
music. A lot of a lot of them love music, you
know, to begin with. And they would make they
would. use wood from the tree and whatever. They
make their own instruments. They created their
own band and they love to sing. So singing was
one of the ways they sustain their spirit. And
so my father, after he retired, he taught himself
how to compose. He wrote over 30... Christian
hymns. He wrote pieces that had been transcribed
for solo piano that I had performed. So this
musical seed in him, maybe that's where the seed
came from. And he also says that he was able
to sustain his spirit because some of the prisoners
came out, either they were executed or even if
they survived, they never were the same. But
my father came out of the eight years of imprisonment.
Not only that, he continued to practice medicine.
He raised family. We were all born after that.
And he became a church elder. He transcribed
the first Taiwanese Bible in his retirement.
Oh, my goodness. And he taught himself to compose.
He has published music. Incredible person. And
what I saw in him was never any bitterness. He
never talked about the hardship. The hardships
of those prison years, I had to learn from reading
other things. But from him, if you looked at
my father, he would have big smiles. He loved
to talk, but he didn't do small talk. He was
always talking about philosophy. Then I learned
that his favorite author was, you know, his favorite
literature was Les Miserables. And it's the theme
of redemption. Yeah, less than a year before
he passed, one of our most profound conversations
was about Zhang Baozhan. And the theme of, and
that's when he told me, he says, Anli, this is
what you need to remember. I sent you away when
you were little because your mom and I were told
by all the teachers who heard you play that you
had a certain talent. And I didn't think that.
You staying in Taiwan, we could give you that
environment. And so I sent you away because my
father, these were his words. Musicians, artists
have a unique role to play. You have a unique
ability to help and bring betterment to humanity
in a way that politicians, economists and bankers,
you know, others, people. They cannot do. But
musicians, artists can do that. So that was the
conversation that I took from the end of my father's
life. He instilled in me that I had to use my
music to serve humanity. And I call it his belief
in the nobility of the arts. So for the last
10 years, this has been what has been on my mind.
And now with my new faith journey, it's... another
dimension yeah but it really does make sense
that you came to this point right but I also
want to know how in the world you were able to
go to the United States on your own as a child
I want to know that journey yes and I cannot
tell you how many people have told me that I
need to write a book and I have never felt ready
to write my book because I didn't understand
my life I didn't understand it. And as I said,
this is the first time that I am beginning to
see that my life makes sense. You know, because
how many pianists, wonderful, fantastic pianists
are there in this world, right? No one has to
leave home as a little girl to go to a foreign
country and live by herself, which is what I
did. I was put on an airplane. I had a little
doll that i chose to be my travel companion and
i flew i stopped by in los angeles where i had
family and that was the idea was i would go to
new york and stay with my father's sister my
aunt however and my older sister who was living
in Los Angeles, decided to join me once I arrived.
So she went with me to New York. But she got
married within three months. So shortly after
that, I was really on my own. So I would rent
a room in somebody's apartment. And there would
be a little piano. My parents, you know, bought
me a little upright piano. So my room would be
just my bed. and my piano. And I went to two
schools. I went to Juilliard Pre -College for
music, and I went to a regular school for regular
school day. But I did all the cooking, paying
rent, all my laundry on my own. So I was living
exactly like that. Wow, that's impressive. Wow.
So then there's a story of a very influential
teacher. That you met when you were still very
small. Nine years old. Nine years old in Taiwan,
right? Yes. Yes. His name is Mircheslav Muntz.
Of course, he is a very well -known teacher and
also pianist of that time. And so he came to
Taiwan and you met him. Yes. Yes. I was brought
to play for him. And, you know, how these great
masters, they travel the world. And they hear
students. And then if they like them, they'll
invite them to come and study. And Mr. Moons
happened to love teaching young students. He
was already a professor at Juilliard. He taught
at Curtis. He taught at Peabody. He taught at
Manhattan. But I think he specialized in bringing
very young talents. As you know, Emmanuel Axe
was very young, too, when he started with Moons
and studied until he became a great artist. In
fact, one of my first lessons at Juilliard Pre
-College, I remember somebody coming into the
studio, and I barely spoke any English. And it
was this big guy, it turned out to be Emmanuel
Axe, who was... who spoke Polish. And the two
of them, my teacher, they were just they were
just speaking Polish. And I looked at them. I
didn't know what they were saying. But, you know,
I was I was his only student at that time in
pre -college, which I didn't know, you know,
because when you're young, you don't know. I
met him. He liked my playing. And after I played
for him, my teacher summoned my mother and said,
Mr. Moons wants to talk to you. I don't know
what they said. I was just a kid. I went out
to play. And then my mother came home and told
my father, Mr. Moons wants Anli to go to America
to study with him and that he would take her
at the Juilliard School. Yeah, back then it was
like going to the moon to go from Taiwan. And
my parents, because as I said, Taiwan was under
martial law. There was no immigration. allowed
so there was no question that i had to go by
myself um wow i see okay yeah but you your parents
you know supported you and you made the move
and they here you are today but later in your
life you wrote a deeply moving article in search
of mere chest love months to ensure that his
artistry and legacy would not be forgotten so
what inspired you to write that piece again,
it's about the life behind every artist, right?
So because I was his youngest, I didn't know
much about his life. And then he passed. After
that, I was still, you know, a child and I floundered
around, moved around, then lived for a couple
of years in Ohio with my older sister, but there
was not much happening. And I decided that I
found a way to get into Interlochen on my own
because that would solve all of my problems.
I would get music and I would get housing, right?
And that's where I met Dr. Kunrat, who was a
wonderful teacher for me. Then I went back to
Juilliard after I graduated from Interlochen.
And this is before the internet age. I didn't
know anything. All these years, I wondered. I
remember people have said that Mr. Moons, his
entire family perished. in the holocaust because
he was from poland and poland suffered greatly
especially krakow where he was from so he had
no family alive and he married um aniela rubinstein
who the who you know for a short period because
she then left him to marry um arthur rubinstein
and he remained unmarried for the rest of his
life so he had no children and then when i realized
as I grew older and I realized that I was possibly
his youngest ever student before he passed. And
I could never find any information about him.
And I felt really sorry because this is before
the internet age. Now, I knew Emmanuel Axe was
his student, but Emmanuel Axe is a great artist.
He's busy concertizing. And Shine was playing
everywhere. I didn't know them. We were a generation
apart, right? So in 2000... When I started my
doctoral studies at UCLA, I began to have to
learn how to use the computer and I began to
search. And then little by little, I began to
find information about my old teacher. So fast
forward a few years, I wanted to do something
more concrete. So I went back and I did research
at Curtis Institute where he taught. And I researched
the archives. And that was the basis of my article.
And since then, there's been other projects for
Mr. Moons. And there is a documentary. I don't
know if you heard of it, but some one of Anne
Shine's students who is now a professor at University
of West Virginia. Her student did a project on
Mr. Moon's, which was turned into a documentary.
So I was invited to be in that documentary and
I talked about Mr. Moon's. And what happened
was that when I realized that I was his last,
the end of the line, and the rest of them were
either busy concertizing or some of them had
already passed, you know, because we're talking
about 70 years. Mr. Moons was 70 years old when
I met him. And so I felt like if I didn't do
something, who is going to do it? Who is going
to remember Mr. Moons' name? And that was the
impetus for my research project. And that's why
I gave the title In Search of Mitchell Moons,
because clearly at that time when I started my
research, there was very, very little. And, you
know, of course, I mean, I was inspired by Alfred
Courtauld's book, In Search of Chopin, right?
That beautiful book, which I love. So I gave
the title In Search of Maitre's Moons. And it
coincided with the 100 -year anniversary of the
Juilliard Pre -College. So I offered this for
that. Wow. And I set up a guest artist series
at Juilliard in Mr. Moons' name. So they have...
now featured a great artist in the inaugural
series. Andra Schiff was the guest artist for
the first installment. So I know Mr. Moon's name
will not be forgotten. And that was my only wish
was to keep his name out there. Beautiful. And
I believe that you sent me the link to this article,
right? Yes. And also the another article about
The Bells of Nagasaki as well. So they are all
available as links. So I will make sure to insert
that into the description of this episode so
that a lot of people can read it and read them.
Wonderful. And so I want to talk about some seminars
you led about musical lineage. So what do you
hope participants... fence takeaway or uh what
do you hope our listeners to take away from learning
about your artistic ancestry so uh this kind
of came just very innocuous. One of my Juilliard
friends, good friend, he's a fabulous pianist,
Cheney Wang, who was a student of Anya Dorfman
and later on had studied with Yablonskaya, Oksana
Yablonskaya. So he's been a good friend. And
one day, just out of the blue, he sent me a text.
He says, Anli, The Holy Spirit moved me today
to research our past teachers, and I found out
that three of your four teachers, he only knew
four of my teachers, I can trace their lineage
all the way back to Johann Sebastian Bach. And
I thought, That's amazing. And he knew about
my faith. And he says, and you and I know who
was Bach's teacher. It was God himself, because
all the inspirations came from God. And so I
just love this idea. And then I was approached
to do another podcast for Mufa Epsilon. They
call it... music talk, music tunes. And I gave
him two or three topics to choose from. And the
person in charge said, I like the musical lineage
because we call it, what is your musical DNA?
Because once my friend charted it out, I was
able to go back and add my other teachers, including
Dr. Kunra, actually. And I was able to trace
everyone. And this is what's interesting. Anybody
who's anybody in the Western piano world can
trace back to either Franz Liszt or Theodor Lechetitsky.
Both of them came from Czerny. So Czerny was
a prolific teacher and who, you know, he was,
Franz Liszt studied with him for seven years.
So, and you know, how many students then? Franz
Liszt had, right? Impact he made on the modern
piano technique. And then on the Russian, Eastern
European side is Lechetinsky. So the Russians
and their offsprings, including Rachmaninoff,
Paderewski, they came out of there. So all of
my teachers, I can trace back. to either the
Russian side, because I had wonderful Russian
teachers. My teacher, Martin Cannon at Juilliard,
his teacher was Rosina Levine, who came from
the Russian side, right? And then Mr. Moons was
from Franz Liszt, Busoni. Mr. Moons has studied
with Busoni and then me. So I'm only two generations
off from Busoni. And then we go all the way back.
So what this... It was just a fun exercise to
do this. So what this showed me was that, and
I share it with all of my students, if you know
where your teachers came from. You can trace
it all the way back to the master of masters,
Johann Sebastian Bach, who got his inspirations
from God himself. Then you know that this is
something that you don't just play around with.
There is a seriousness of attitude. We have this
glorious inheritance given to us. It's part of
our musical. We get our physical DNA from our
parents, where our temperament, you know, our
physical temperament and our cultural DNA from
our life, where we live. And then you put that
all together with our musical DNA. That makes
each one of us unique because you cannot duplicate
anyone the same way. So each of us is unique
as a musician. We have something unique because.
The musical DNA, the physical, biological DNA,
and our cultural DNA combined together makes
us the artists that we are. And so you should
all cherish your own heritage. Your parents.
Give thanks to your parents for the experiences
you had, whether they were good or difficult.
Like my life had many upheavals, but that's all
part of what makes my life experience a little
bit deeper. And that comes out in your art. So
that's the whole idea behind this musical lineage.
Yeah. And you're such a, as I'm talking to you,
you're such a wonderful teacher and educator
as well. And in your lectures on pedagogy, you
often talk about how to plant. the seed for artistry
from the very first lesson. And you mentioned
about Dr. Michael Kumrad, who happened to be
on my show a couple of years ago. And he is actually
the one who connected me to you. You mentioned
that you're fascinating at discussions on nature
versus nurture in developing musical artistry.
How do you approach that in your teaching? What
does it mean? Nature? I mean, I know what nature
versus nurture means, but in your definition
in. music musical pedagogical sense yes so i
have to say i want i want to give credit to dr
shinichi suzuki you know Suzuki Method. So when
I first graduated from Juilliard, I didn't know
how to teach, but my first job, we had moved
to Chicago and I was hired by a music school
and all they wanted was Suzuki teacher because
Suzuki was so popular and I'm like 24 years old.
I just needed a way to make income. So they sent
me to get Suzuki training. But what I found was
not so much. The method, which unfortunately
I see that is not really applied well. And I
feel that Suzuki method is very much misunderstood.
But the basic idea of the Suzuki method is really
universal. And, you know, Joseph Levine, who
was Rosina Levine's husband, he wrote a beautiful
little book on piano teaching, right? One of
the chapters talks about the beautiful sound.
It has to start with a beautiful sound. The Suzuki
method mentions that as the first lesson, but
the other thing, it really touches on nature
versus nurture. Suzuki believed that every child
has the ability to learn music like it's their
native tongue. And in this regard, it's very
much... Different from my kind of training, you
know, Juilliard, conservatory, all the, you know,
it's all about practice and talent, right? But
Suzuki is the one that believes in the nature
of a child. And he equates that with a child's
ability to learn the mother tongue. Every child
can learn to speak their mother tongue well,
but you have to. Repeat. A child hears the word
mommy, mommy, mommy. In the beginning, they can't
say it, but after a few tries, they can do it.
And that's how they learn words. So it's the
repetition of sound and the idea of encouragement.
A child, a baby who can't say mommy doesn't get
scolded. Right? So as a teacher of very young
students, which I ended up with 50 students at
that. I had three schools that I was teaching.
Half of them were under age five. So I have a
whole crop of very young students, but this philosophy
touched me greatly. And it's all about modeling
a love of beautiful sound and how to get it,
how to use encouragement, not praise. Don't say,
oh, you're so good. You're so talented. Say,
I love the way you positioned your hand. I love
the way you touch the key. Mention, talk about
what they do, not who they are. And they will
gain confidence. In the end, Suzuki's goal is
to raise children to become noble human beings.
And I think that philosophy is beautiful. And
it's very much in line with everything that I
was raised to believe. And that's why I love
the method. Yeah, it's unfortunately misunderstood.
But the philosophy is something that I hope that
all teachers. Well, take some time and think
about that. The nature is the ability to learn.
The nurture is parents, teachers, the environment,
making it possible for the child to flourish
like a flower that can bloom with the right amount
of water and sunlight. There's another quote
I would like to share about Franz Liszt. Franz
Liszt wrote a manifesto in 1836 called On the...
Position of Artists in Society, which is an amazing
essay. But he was encouraging people. He says
artists and musicians must leave the temple and
go out into the world to serve, to enrich, and
ennoble your fellow human beings. And this was
his words. I could send you the exact quote,
but I think I have it here. This is from his
manifesto, 1836. He says, Today, art must leave
the sanctuary of the temple and expand into the
outside world to seek a stage for its glorious
manifestation. Music must recognize God and people
as its living source, must go from one to the
other to ennoble, to comfort, to purify man,
and to bless and praise God. Beautiful. And it's
beautifully written. And I came across that quote
a long time ago. And it has always inspired me.
So I actually loved doing benefit concerts because
in my mind, this is one way that I am serving
in the spirit that Franz Liszt encouraged all
of us musicians to go out. We must leave the
temple, he said. Not just be in the temple for
me means the concert hall. Right, right. Or the
conservatory. That's what we were trying to do.
Oh, yes. We spent our entire lives working on
our repertoire and our technique to play a concert
in a concert hall. But Franz Liszt is saying
we must leave the temple and go out into the
world to enrich and ennoble. I love that word,
to ennoble. I am teaching. some gifted students
too. And their focus is to really get into schools,
certain schools, and which is rightly so. But
then some of the students may start feeling anxiety
because the focus, the goal is just to this one
thing, specific thing. you mentioned about tempo,
but then I always try to tell them, think much
bigger, wider. It's not about that. Yes, that
is important, but it's more important that you
involve people and how you make the music resonate
with others. So yeah, that poetry you just read
just means so much. It's beautiful. As teachers,
we cannot lay it all on them. What I share with
you is pretty heavy. And because we're talking
as equals, right? So part of becoming an effective
teacher, and I felt like I really have my introduction
into teaching was trial by fire. you know coming
out of Juilliard and I didn't even know how to
explain the concept of a quarter note versus
a half note you can't just do counting because
the beat itself can The duration can vary. You
have to make them feel. It has to be a kinesthetic
experience. So it was very, very hard for me.
I had many nightmares. I wake up having nightmares
where my students are just laying on the floor
and wouldn't get up and play the piano because
they were all so young. So one of the things
is just to keep things in proportion, keep things
balanced, make things digestible. For your students,
you have to relate to them. For example, even
one of the things that you relate to them, when
I taught very young students, I didn't stand
over them. If I'm holding their hand and they're
only this high, I would be almost kneeling down
so that I'm showing them their hand position
and their eye to eye. on the same level. And
I feel very sad when I hear sometimes we have
transfer students and they come to me and the
parents say, oh, my child is just not that talented.
I know you have great students. And that hurts
me when I hear that kind of talk because no,
no, no mother, no father should be saying my
child is not talented because the child then
goes home and repeats it to himself. I'm not
talented. It doesn't even enter my vocabulary
when I'm working with students. And so about
my faith and all my core passion, that's me personally.
But when you deal with students, it has to be
very practical. It has to be in digestible doses.
And the teachers. I'm also working with teachers
who teach other students, and I require them
to bring the pieces that they're teaching. I
said, are you practicing what you're teaching?
So if you're teaching even a Clementi Sonatina,
you have to play it for me. Because if you don't
play it, you think that student is doing something
and you're correcting them based on paper or
based on what you think. But if you actually
work it out. on your own, you realize a certain
fingering just doesn't work as well, especially
size of the hand is different. So my adult teachers
who are students, I mean, my adult students who
are teachers, I asked them to play what they're
teaching for me. And one of the lectures that
I just gave to our local music teachers group,
I said, please use your morning hours before
your students come. Practice. You have to practice.
We're coming to closer to the end, but I want
to ask two more questions. One is going back
to the first question I asked about your mission
and passion. So now it's time for you to maybe
putting all these things together. Yes, I think
my mission and my passion, again, so the three
aspects that I've kind of talked about in a very
broad way. Faith, music, and my life. The life
was given to me by my parents. The faith is from
God. The music is this gift, really from God,
and also a skill that we spend our lives cultivating
and perfecting as much as we can. So the three
quotes, or the three main philosophical quotes
that I share, the one from Bach about music,
the only reason. is to worship god and then that
is the faith part the cultural part is what list
told us to do get out of the temple the temple
we spend our lives practicing a hundred hours
on one etude and you play for a select select
group of people who don't may not even understand
it. And does your plumber, your gardener, can
they appreciate what you do? No, we can't be
so elitist, you know? Come out of the temple.
What does he say? Music, to seek a stage, to
expand into the outside world, to seek a stage
for its glorious manifestation. And so the purpose
of my music is to do all of that, to bring the
music out. And then... my life part is just gratitude
for my parents and for even though they sent
me away very early on it was a difficult decision
for them and i went through a lot of hardships
but these are these are my lessons and they come
back in my art you know life gives you the fuel
the lessons that you need to refine yourself
as a human being and art can only come as a result
of that otherwise there's no art it's just empty
yeah absolutely yeah yeah so um what's next for
you is there anything exciting project or yes
that's coming up Well, you know, as I said, I'm
kind of taking it easy. I have things planning,
and I have projects in mind, and I hope that
someday we can have another conversation about
some of the projects, which I'm very excited
about. But again, it will be kind of in alignment
with what I talk about. Beautiful. Just to give
another concert playing, you know, Hammer Clavier.
which actually is not in my repertoire, but you
know, but you know what I mean? Yes. Trying to
aiming for the Mount Everest, which is fine.
And it's wonderful. You know, I just watched
the Chopin competition. It's very inspiring that
these fantastic, very young pianists, they're
giving their life to achieve, but I hope that
all of them will then live life so that their
art will deepen. So, yeah. So, you know, these
amazing pianists can go on and give those concerts,
but I hope that my music and my life will come
together in such a way that, you know, I can
give something a little bit more unique. And
how would you like your artistry and legacy to
be remembered? I know you're still very young,
but what kind of connection, what kind of artistry
and legacy to be remembered? I think. Maybe someday
one of my students will remember me as I remember
Mr. Moons. Wonderful. So this is the end of our
conversation, but we have one more thing to do.
But is there anything else you want to mention
before we go? I am just in awe of people like
you. Like I said, I'm so social media shy, but
you are someone that represents. you know, the
current and the future, you are able to bring
technology into service of the arts. So I congratulate
you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Yeah. So before
I let you go, we have one more thing. It's called
the Pianopods Rapid Fire Questions. And we take
this segment very seriously. I didn't expect
this. We've shared your, you've shared your stories
and expertise today. And, but these questions
carefully curated by me, we'll give our listeners
a glimpse into who you truly are. So, but let's
really make it fun. So we'll start with the first
question. What is your comfort food? Tofu. All
forms of tofu. Yes. Same. How do you like your
coffee in the morning? Black. Black. Cats or
dogs? I've had both. Okay. Sunrise or sunset?
I'm a sunset person. I'm not a morning person.
I appreciate sunsets, but I'm never up at that
hour. Sunsets I enjoy every day. Great. Summer
or winter? That's a good one. I'm not sure. It
depends on what location, right? You're right.
I think I can enjoy elements of summer and facets
of the different. I think that's important in
one's life to have the different seasons. You're
right. Yes. All right. Now, next level. What
skill have you always wanted to learn but haven't
had a chance to? Swimming. Oh, okay. What is
your word or words to live by? Gratitude. Favorite
venue you have ever performed in or any dream
venue? I don't have one, but I love playing for
small audiences, the salon situation. But I also
had a really fun time playing in a big amphitheater.
It's like a mini Hollywood Bowl. And that's when
I did the July 4th Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue.
Oh, wow. And it was, you know, there were thousands
of people there and they were, they were a rowdy
crowd, but in that way it was fun. And they were
supposed to have fireworks, but that year, because
of all the fires in LA, they didn't do fireworks,
but they did laser show afterwards. And that
was so much fun. Oh, that's cool. What is the
most important quality you look for in other
people? Honesty. Name a composer you wish more
people knew about or play. You know, for piano,
really. Everyone that's played is pretty much,
you know, we have Chopin, of course, Rachmaninoff,
Mozart, Bach. I think I would like to hear more
Bach. I don't know why in Southern California.
I discovered, you know, when I was doing my early
music training at Juilliard on the East Coast
or any college auditions, they require Bach.
But that's something I'm finding kind of missing
in California. I would love to see more of that.
And I think if more people can play Bach and
study, a lot of things will be right. Yeah, absolutely.
Two more questions to go. Name one piece in your
current playlist, if you have one. In my current
playlist? Name one song in your playlist. It
doesn't matter. It doesn't have to be classical.
Surprise us. You mean recorded or something that
I play? Something that you listen to. Oh, something
that I listen to. I love Piazzolla. Which one?
I play the Four Seasons on the piano, but I love
Oblivion. In fact, there's this channel that
has Oblivion for three hours, and when I'm cooking...
You know, making Chinese dumplings. I have that
on and I'm dancing and making my dumplings. Oh,
that's nice to know. Yay. Yeah. The last question.
I want you to fill in the blank. Music is blank.
Music is heart. Beautiful. Thank you, Anli. Thank
you so much. Beat, right? It has to pulsate.
Yeah. okay beautifully said thank you so much
for joining us today on the for sharing your
artistry and journey Thoughtful reflection with
such openness and kindness and grace. To our
audience, if you'd like to learn more about Anli's
recent Bells of Nagasaki project and also another
article she wrote, you can find links to related
articles in the show notes. And of course, a
huge thank you to all of you, our dedicated listeners,
for tuning in. If you enjoyed today's episode,
please give it a thumbs up and subscribe to the
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We'll see you in the next episode of The Piano
Pot. Thank you, Anli, once again. Thank you very
much, Yukimi.