牛牛／ニュウニュウ

Niu Niu

本名、張勝量（Zhang Shengliang）。1997年中国福建省厦門（アモイ）の音楽一家に生まれる。3歳で才能の片鱗を見せ始め、音楽教師の父より手ほどきを受ける。2003年8月、6歳になった直後にデビューコンサートを行い、モーツァルトのピアノ・ソナタやショパンのエチュードを演奏。8歳で上海音楽院に史上最年少で入学。その後ニューイングランド音楽院等を経て、2018年ジュリアード音楽院（米国）卒業。

2007年最年少で国際クラシックレーベルのEMIクラシックス（現ワーナークラシックス）と専属契約を結ぶ。2008年デビューアルバム『ニュウニュウ・プレイズ・モーツァルト』、2010年『ショパン：エチュード全集』、2012年『リスト・トランスクリプションズ』等を連続リリース。2016年にはヤツェク・カスプシク指揮ワルシャワ・フィルハーモニック演奏でラフマニノフ：ピアノ協奏曲第2番、パガニーニの主題による狂詩曲をリリースしている。2017年ユニバーサル・レコードと専属契約を締結。2018年9月デッカより「リスト：ピアノ・ソナタ ～ヴィルトゥオーゾ＆ロマンティック・ピアノ作品集」をリリースし、レコード芸術（18年11月号）で＜特選盤＞に選ばれた。

近年は、プラハの「ドヴォルザーク・フェスティバル」にてチェコフィル（指揮：イルジー・ビエロフラーヴェク）、ワルシャワ国立フィル（指揮：ヤツェク・カスプシク）、上海交響楽団（指揮：ムーハイ・タン）等と共演。2016年8月には1カ月で中国国内16都市を回るリサイタルツアーを実施して、大成功を収めた。

日本においては、2009年10月弱冠12歳でサントリーホール（東京）、ザ・シンフォニーホール（大阪）でデビュー。共にホールのリサイタル最年少記録を更新した。翌年には初のリサイタルツアーで大きな成功を収めた。2011年9月、佐渡裕指揮兵庫芸術文化センター管弦楽団の定期演奏会にてショスタコーヴィチ作曲「ピアノ協奏曲第1番」、ラフマニノフ作曲「パガニーニの主題による狂詩曲」を演奏し好評を博す。
テレビアニメ『ピアノの森』（NHK）で中国人ピアニスト パン・ウェイの演奏を担当。
https://www.niuniumusic.com/

Niu Niu

Niu Niu is the nickname and performing identity of Shengliang Zhang, born into a musical family in Xiamen, Fujian province, China in 1997. After showing talent at the age of three, Niu Niu received his first lessons from his father. He made his recital debut in August 2003, a few weeks after his sixth birthday, with a programme that included a Mozart piano sonata and a Chopin étude. At the age of eight, he became the youngest student in the 85-year history of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.

Since the age of ten, Niu Niu (meaning “Little Ox”) has studied with Professor Hung-Kuan Chen, initially at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and, more recently, at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts - where Niu Niu and his family relocated. Chen believes Niu Niu possesses “an untold passion and aesthetic that belies his tender age”. Another mentor is pianist Leslie Howard, who describes his protégé as “the finest young musician I have ever known.”

In 2007 Niu Niu became the youngest pianist ever to sign an exclusive recording contract with an international classical label – EMI Classics now Warner Classics. In July 2008, he released his debut album, “Niu Niu plays Mozart” followed by “Niu Niu plays Chopin-The Complete Études” in 2010 and “Niu Niu Liszt Transcriptions” in 2012. Completed in June 2014, a recording of Rachmaninov’s Piano concerto No.2 and Paganini Variations with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and their Music Director Jacek Kaspszyk. The recordings immediately led to an invitation to perform concerts with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2016, Niu Niu released his 6th album "Niu Niu Portrait".

Niu Niu opened his 14/15 season performing the Dvorak Piano Concerto with Jiri Belohlavek and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra at the Dvorak Prague Festival, while other recent highlights include his debut with the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra under Muhai Tang performing Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 as well as returning to the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, again under Muhai Tang, performing Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.1. Niu Niu also performed in Japan for a series of tours in 2014: in March 2014 he worked once again with Yutaka Sado and his Super Kids Orchestra for a five-city tour of the major concert halls in Japan and during the summer he toured Japan extensively - giving recitals in major halls such as Suntory Hall Tokyo, Symphony Hall Osaka and others, with one critic describing the performance as the ‘best concert of the year’. Niu Niu just completed 16 cities concert tour in China within one month in August 2016.

Other career highlights to date include an invitation to London’s Royal Festival Hall to perform Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No.1 at the 2007 Pearl Awards, conducted by his coach and mentor Leslie Howard. The concert was held in the presence of His Royal Highness Prince Charles, Prince of Wales. Niu Niu’s performance in China’s annual televised New Year’s concert in 2007 was watched by an estimated audience of half a billion. In October 2010 in Berlin, Niu Niu was made laureate of the 2010 PRIX Montblanc, awarded annually to young emerging instrumentalists in the classical music world. Since then, Niu Niu has appeared in recital in many of the world’s most prestigious venues including London’s Wigmore Hall, Beijing National Centre for the Performing Arts (the first youngest pianist's solo concert in NCPA), Shanghai Oriental Centre, Suntory Hall Tokyo and Symphony Hall Osaka. As well as performing extensively throughout Japan and China (including a 25 date concerts in 2007/08) he has performed in Switzerland and France with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, given concerts in Berlin, Hamburg, Dortmund and Essen, and, as first laureate of the Artemisia Foundation, he gave debuts in Boston’s Jordan Hall and Yale University’s Sprague Hall in 2012. Last season he performed Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini and Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No.1 in Hyogo Performing Arts Centre with Maestro Yutaka Sado, as well as the performance of both violin and piano concertos with Shanghai Philharmonic orchestra with Maestro Muhai Tang.

In 2014, Niu Niu was accepted to The Juilliard School under full scholarship, and is currently pursuing his Bachelor of Music Degree.