Classical Music
Vocal Music
Favorite tenor: Enrico Caruso: Una Furtiva Lagrima and Rigoletto Quartet
Favorite
soprano: Maria Callas: Casta Diva, Vissi d'arte, and Parigi O Cara
Favorite arias: Ah, fors'e lui, Un bel di, vedremo, Depuis le Jour, Quando men vo, and Queen of Night; duet: Flower Duet, Pearl Fishers, and La Boheme (Carreras/Stratas
and Bjorling/Tebaldi); quartet: Rigoletto; sextet: Lucia di Lammermoor
Favorite choral music: Im Abendrot (into the sunset), Ave Verum Corpus, Lacrymosa (Verdi), Pie Jesu (Faure)
Favorite songs: Song to the Moon, None But the Lonely Heart, Songs My Mother Taught Me and Elegie
Other songs: Home, Sweet Home (UK), Impression of the West Lake (Japan/China), Caruso (Italy), Besame Mucho (Mexico), On Wings of Song (Germany),Vocalise (Russia), Bachiana brasileira (Brazil), and Romance de Nadir (France)
Touching performance: Ave Maria
Symphonic
music
Favorite orchestra: Berlin
Philharmonic
Favorite piece: Bruckner Symphony No. 9 (to the beloved God)
Favorite piece I played before:
Dvorak Symphony
No. 9 in E Minor (reminds me of a special day: morning in Montreal, Canada and Burlington, Vermont, noon in Detroit, and evening playing this in Boca Raton, Florida)
Most exciting/disturbing piece: The Rite of Spring (reminds me of Inca ice maiden Juanita)
Chamber
music
Favorite composer:
Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartet No.15 in A Minor (message to/from god)
Favorite piece: Shostakovich String
Quartet No. 8 in C Minor
Favorite piece I played before:
Borodin String Quartet No. 2 (reminds me of happy times playing in a college string quartet)
Touching performance: Lento assai (Beethoven's swan song),
Tchaiovsky Trio and Andante Cantabile
Violin and cello
Favorite violinist:
David
Oistrach: Shostakovich Violin Concerto in A Minor
Favorite piece:
Beethoven Violin
Concerto in D Major
Favorite piece I played before:
Meditation (first classical music piece I heard)
Touching performance: Morgen! (tomorrow!), Chaconne (most spiritual), Introduction and Tarantelle (Varga and Heifetz), Clair de Lune, Traumerei, Valse Sentimentale, Romantic Pieces (Xiaofu Zhou, my violin teacher), and Cello Solo No. 6 Sarabande (fatherly love)
Classical guitar
Favorite guitarist: Mingbao Zhu ÖìÃ÷±¦ (my teacher from Shanghai)
Favorite piece:
Concierto de Aranjuez
Favorite piece I played before:
Romance D'amour, Recuerdos de la Alhambra, and Asturias
Piano
Favorite composer:
Frederic
Chopin
Favorite pianist:
Arthur
Rubinstein: Chopin Nocturne in G Minor
Favorite piece:
Rachmaninoff Piano
Concerto No. 2 in C Minor (my daughters Nini and Yaoyao played before)
Favorite piece I played before: Some day (duet played with my daughters)
Touching performance: Kinderszenen, June: Barcarolle, Les Années de Pèlerinage (Yaoyao played before)
Sports
Soccer
Favorite team: Manchester United
Favorite league: English Premiership
Tennis
Favorite player: Roger Federer
Boxing
Current favorite: GGG