Feng flourishes at Carnegie

Many musicians dream of performing for and delighting thousands of audience members with their music. Junior Karlly Feng, however, was able to realize this dream at the age of 16. On Dec. 21, she graced the stage at Carnegie Hall in New York as part of the American Protege International Romantic Competition.
Three applicants from each category of the competition got the chance to perform at the winners’ recital in New York. Applicants submitted videos of them playing their respective instruments in November and the judges notified the winners shortly after.
When Feng first submitted her work, she was not selected to perform at Carnegie Hall. Her teacher, who has had multiple students make it to New York and understands the level of the tournament, emailed the competition chairs to make sure there were no mistakes. The chairs replied and stated that due to a technical error, they did not receive a video from Feng at all. Since it was a simple complication, she re-submitted her audition tape and found out she was chosen the next day.
While the competition and the performance in New York were over in a matter of weeks, the road there was not quick. Feng has been playing piano since she was in the third grade and learned to read notes even before that. She worked hard at her craft for eight years, always keeping her focus on Carnegie Hall.
However, Feng’s eight years of playing the piano were not always a smooth ride. She has faced countless obstacles on the way to achieve her dream, the most recent one being a two week period in the summer where she was scheduled to attend three competitions, but didn’t place in any. Though she felt terrible about not being able to place in any of them, she found comfort in the fact that her piano teacher believed in her.
“She kept encouraging me even though I felt terrible for failing her and myself,” Feng said. “She knew I worked hard though, but I just was pulled in too many directions. She was the one who taught me that hard work always pays off, and that was shown to me through Carnegie.”