(VOVWORLD) - Pianist Trang Trinh was named by Forbes magazine one of the 30 most prominent Vietnamese under the age of 30 in 2015. Trinh has won a number of international music awards and is active in social work.
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Trang Trinh is in Forbes' 2015 list of 30 most prominent Vietnamese under 30.
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Trang Trinh, whose real name is Trinh Mai Trang, was born in 1986 in Hanoi. At the age of 7, Trang started studying piano at the Hanoi College of Art and soon revealed a strong talent. Trang won first prize at the International Young Talent Music Competition for two consecutive years in 1996 and 1997.
“My parents are not musicians but they both love music. They exposed me to music at a very young age. At 16, I studied piano at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where I was taught by many well-known music professors,” she said.
In 2006, Trang won the top prize at the Paganini Festival, which led to her London debut with Edward Gardner of the English National Opera, performing Franz Liszt’s Totentanz. One year later, Trang received the Francis Simmer Prize for a solo piano performance and the Lilian Davis Prize for performing a Beethoven sonata. Trang also received the Gretta GM Parkinson Prize in 2008 for outstanding academic results at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Her first European tour included recitals and concerts in Vienna, Dublin, Belfast, and London.
“I have had the opportunity to perform in many countries around the world and have focused on the works of Mozart, Beethoven, and Chopin. My most memorable performance was in Vienna. After the performance, an old woman told me she really liked the way I had performed a Beethoven sonata, though she had listened to the piece many times before,” Trang recalled.
 (Photo: Facebook/ Trang Trinh) |
After her graduation, Trang and her husband, South Korean opera singer Park Sung Min, moved to Vietnam to perform classical music for Vietnamese audiences. Trang became active in charity work, organizing charity music events, performing benefit concerts in Hanoi, and teaching music to disadvantaged children in Vinh Phuc province. Trang’s project “Rethinking Beethoven” for the young has been highly praised.
“I set up the Miracle Choir and Orchestra for children from orphan villages in Hanoi based on the models of South Korea’s Dream Orchestra and the UK’s Harmony Orchestra. When it began in 2013, my orchestra only had 15 children, but this number has increased to 116, most of whom are children from the SOS and Birla orphanages in Hanoi. I have also worked with the Voice of Vietnam to teach music to children in Ha Giang,” Trang said.