Junwen Liang's Colombine: Amy Beach & Florence Price

For pianist Junwen Liang, melody has always been at the heart of music. Long before he dedicated himself to the piano, he sang as a child, developing an instinctive appreciation for lyrical lines that continues to shape his artistic voice today. That sensitivity is beautifully reflected in his new EP, Colombine, which pairs piano works by Amy Beach and Florence Price, two pioneering American composers whose music deserves a wider audience.

The project also reflects Liang’s own journey as an international musician. Born and raised in Nanning, China, he has spent more than a decade studying, performing, and teaching in the United States. Through Colombine, he wanted to present an all-American program from the perspective of someone who has embraced the country’s musical heritage while bringing his own cultural background to it.

“I wanted to introduce American classical repertoire through an international musician’s perspective,” he says. “It’s my way of contributing to the conversation about what American piano music can be.”

That vision also led Liang to explore the lives of Amy Beach and Florence Price. Although their backgrounds were very different, both composers established distinctive musical voices while remaining rooted in the United States.

“I think it’s meaningful to represent composers who built their musical identities here,” he says. “They didn’t need to study in Europe to create music of lasting significance.”

Liang’s own musical studies began with voice lessons. His parents first enrolled him in voice lessons after noticing his natural musical ear. “I could identify melodies from the radio and television,” he recalls. His father, who received professional training as a violinist, introduced him to music theory when he was five, while his mother encouraged his love of singing and listening to music. Although he eventually shifted his focus from singing to the piano, those early experiences left a lasting impression.

“I always enjoy melodies,” Liang says. “When I learn a piece, the first thing that connects me to the composer is the melody. Virtuosity and harmonic complexity are important, but for me, they become secondary. What matters most is shaping the phrases and allowing the melody to speak.”

After studying at Ithaca College, the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Penn State, and the Peabody Institute, Liang has developed a career as both a performer and educator. In recent years, he has become increasingly interested in presenting repertoire that broadens audiences’ understanding of American classical music and highlights composers whose contributions have too often been overlooked.

Junwen Liang

Liang first encountered the music of Amy Beach and Florence Price during his undergraduate years in the United States. While exploring American music beyond jazz, popular music, and musical theatre, he discovered a rich body of classical repertoire that was rarely heard in concert.

“When I first came to the United States, most of the classical repertoire I knew was centred on the European canon,” he explains. “Later I discovered Amy Beach and Florence Price, and I realised how much wonderful music exists outside that tradition.”

The title Colombine comes from Amy Beach’s Les Rêves de Colombine. Liang selected the third and fourth movements, “Valse-Caprice” and “Sous les étoiles,” to represent the suite. Together with Florence Price’s Adoration, Clouds, and Étude in C Major, they form a compact yet carefully curated musical journey.

For Liang, Beach’s suite offered an especially compelling narrative. Inspired by the commedia dell’arte character Colombine, the work follows the dreams and emotions of a young woman in love. Liang chose two movements that he believes best capture the intimacy and emotional progression of the story.

“I want listeners to use their imagination,” he says. “The music invites you into Colombine’s world and allows you to experience her emotions.”

The Florence Price selections tell a different kind of story. Liang intentionally opens with Adoration, one of Price’s late works, viewing it as a reflection of the composer’s wisdom and inner peace after a life marked by remarkable achievements and significant challenges.

“If you listen to composers’ late works, you often hear reflection,” he observes. “After everything Florence Price experienced, Adoration feels deeply spiritual.”

He follows with Clouds, whose rich harmonies and shifting colours reveal Price’s mature compositional voice while evoking nature’s ever-changing character.

“When you think about clouds, the sky is always changing,” Liang says. “Sometimes it is peaceful and beautiful, and sometimes it becomes dark with storms. I think this piece reflects human emotions in much the same way.”

The EP concludes with the Étude in C Major, a brilliant work that combines virtuosic writing with a harmonic language Liang finds unmistakably American.

“It’s not just about technical display,” he explains. “There is personality, character, and a harmonic language that feels uniquely her own.”

Although Colombine is only an EP, Liang sees it as the start of a larger project. Every work on the recording was first performed in recital before being recorded.

“I always want to perform music live before I record it,” he says. “The concert stage teaches you things that the practice room cannot.”

He plans to perform Amy Beach’s complete Les Rêves de Colombine later this year, with the goal of eventually recording the entire suite. For Liang, Colombine is not only a recording but also an invitation to discover music beyond the traditional piano canon. “I hope people realise that classical music isn’t only about the composers we already know,” he says. “There is so much wonderful music waiting to be discovered. If this recording helps even a few more people explore Amy Beach and Florence Price, then I feel it has achieved something meaningful.”