Pianist Wang Zihao, also billed as Nero, performs Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence alongside film themes and piano works in a programme of solo piano arrangements.
A graduate of the piano department at the Central Conservatory of Music, Wang has taken part in a China-Italy musical exchange at the Italian embassy and a chamber-music programme at the Swiss embassy. He also writes songs and works across composition, arrangement and production.
Screen music shapes the programme's variety. Sakamoto's Aqua, from Monster, and Rain, from The Last Emperor, sit alongside Justin Hurwitz's La La Land Suite and Hans Zimmer's music for Interstellar. The selection moves between intimate melody, jazz-inflected romance and the urgency of a space mission.
Rather than reproducing the original screen orchestrations, the concert places these melodies in the hands of one pianist, keeping the focus on keyboard colour and musical narrative.
Full programme
- Ryuichi Sakamoto - Aqua (from Monster)
- Ryuichi Sakamoto - Solitude
- Justin Hurwitz - La La Land Suite
- Hans Zimmer - First Step - No Time for Caution (from Interstellar)
- Ryuichi Sakamoto - energy flow
- Joe Hisaishi - Hanabi (from Hana-bi)
- Joe Hisaishi - Fantasia (from Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind)
- Ryuichi Sakamoto - Poppoya (The Railroad Man)
- Ryuichi Sakamoto - Rain (from The Last Emperor)
- Ryuichi Sakamoto - Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence