Emory Pathways Global Award goes to three students from the Piano area to study at Prague Piano Festival this summer: Colin Song, Athena Grasso and Vivian Zhao.

Vivian Zhao, 21, is a senior at Emory University pursuing a double major in NBB and music performance. For her senior year Honors Recital, she will be exploring the connections between three major works from different periods, including Franz Liszt’s Reminiscences de Boccanegra, Modest Mussorgsky’s original Pictures at an Exhibition, and Carl Vine’s Piano Sonata No. 1. Her central theme is how Liszt’s invention of symphonic poems dramatically shifted how future composers approached form and expression. This newly found freedom also coincided with the appearance of thematic transformation, which she intends to highlight during her recital. 

This summer, she will be attending the Prague Piano Festival in efforts to expand her worldview perspective through studying under David Kalhous, the director of the Prague Piano Festival and a Piano Professor at Florida State University. By creating greater connections between the repertoire she has chosen, Ms. Zhao can highlight the symbiotic nature of musical transformation that builds and perseveres through a century of composition. This endeavor could not have been possible without the generous support of the Pathways Global Award. Ms. Zhao thanks the Pathways Center at Emory and Dr. Ed Goode for providing the means in which she can achieve this essential experience at the Prague Piano Festival.