5 Reasons Why You Should Know Margaret Leng Tan
The Queen of the Toy Piano
She is the 'Diva of avant-garde pianism', as hailed by The New York Times.
Margaret Leng Tan has established herself as a major force within the American avant-garde scene. Her artful performances often embrace theatre, choreography, props and objects to create an inimitable sense of musical wonder.
Her mentor was John Cage.
Margaret Leng Tan met pioneering composer, theorist, artist and philosopher John Cage in 1981 and they worked brilliantly together for the last 11 years of his life. She is highly acclaimed for being 'the most convincing interpreter of John Cage’s keyboard music' via The New York Times.
She was the first woman to earn a doctorate from The Juilliard School.
The Juilliard School in New York is a world leader in performing arts education and in 1971, Margaret Leng Tan was awarded a Doctorate in Musical Arts from the iconic institution.
She's serious about the art of play.
Margaret Leng Tan's groundbreaking CD The Art of the Toy Piano (released in 1997) radically transformed the possibilities for what was once considered a mere toy. In 2010 she released the follow up album, She Herself Alone: The Art of the Toy Piano which you can listen to on Spotify over here.
She's making her debut at the Centre.
Taking to the Elisabeth Murdoch Hall stage her concert features a Satie miniature, Jed Distler’s Minute Ring, Beatles classics reinterpreted on toy pianos and teapots, and Erik Griswold’s Old MacDonald’s Yellow Submarine performed on all manner of toys with the Australian premiere of Philip Glass’s early minimalist piano solo, How Now, the centerpiece of the program.
