Sennheiser launches CD for young musician
Published: ASIA
CHINA: The Sennheiser Group recently provided 13-year-old pianist A Bu with an award-winning team of sound and recording engineers to produce and release his debut album.
A Bu began his piano training with Professor Shigu Zhang from the Central Conservatory of Music Beijing when he was four years old. At the age of nine, he started studying within the music school attached to the Central Conservatory of Music and began his tutelage under the professors Zhiwei Zhang and Hongwei.
He was then encouraged to develop his music overseas which saw him join piano camps in the US during summer periods. In June 2012, A Bu was promoted to the Advanced Music School, and later performed at several Sennheiser-sponsored events in China, including the Piano of Beijing Jungle Big Band and the Piano of Rolf Becker Big Band, as well as performing at the Beijing Nine Gates Jazz Festival.
‘We were amazed at this talented young person who was miles ahead of his age in terms of skill, and so Sennheiser as a company decided to do what we could to support his growth as a musician,’ said Marc Vincent, president of Greater China, Sennheiser. ‘It just so happened that it was time for him to release an album and so together with his team of teachers and management, we hired Grammy-award winning recording engineer, Jakob Haendel to produce his first album.’
A four-day recording session was held in January in Beijing, culminating in a 50 minute-long album that will feature up to 10 songs. ‘Now we’re in the middle of production and already we’re on a very high level – you’ll be surprised,’ said Mr Haendel. ‘He’s a young boy who has already done a lot of live performances, and you can see that he really enjoys playing in front of people.
‘This is a fairly big studio with only one recording room so we’re recording old school by having all the musicians in the same room,’ he explained. ‘We don’t have a drum booth and all the sound is generated in just this room, so it has been more technical and robust.’
‘We are trying our best to support A Bu in his career,’ said his father, Bin Dai. ‘He has his own studio at home and as he is still young, so an education is still the most important thing for the time being. We will send him to America to study jazz music in the near future to help him continue on this journey.’
A Bu’s first album is scheduled for launch on July 16th, which also happens to be his 14th birthday. A Bu also plays in a trio jazz band with drummer Shao Ha Ha and bass player Ma Kai.