Pianist Xijuan Zong has released her solo piano album, Presence in Sound, Resonant Voices: Women Composers of Our Time, through the Austrian label Global Gate Music. The album is now available internationally across major digital platforms, including Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, and other streaming services.
Centered on contemporary piano works by women composers, the album reflects Zong’s artistic interest in modern sound, cultural expression, and underrepresented voices in today’s classical music landscape. Featuring music by Gabriela Lena Frank, Kathryn Salfelder, and Courtney Bryan, the project presents a vivid and emotionally diverse portrait of contemporary piano repertoire.
The album is also closely connected to Zong’s recent international recognitions and performances. Her performance of Courtney Bryan’s BLAM, one of the featured works on the album, received a Silver Medal for Outstanding Achievement from the Global Music Awards in the United States. She was also named a Grand Award Winner in the Apex International Music Competition and was invited to perform at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall as part of the competition’s Grand Award Winners Concert. In addition, she received a Gold Award and a Most Influential Award from the Fresco Mélodie International Music Competition.
Together, the album release, competition recognitions, and Carnegie Hall performance reflect Zong’s current artistic direction: bringing contemporary piano music, especially works by women composers, to wider international audiences.
Could you introduce your new album, Presence in Sound, Resonant Voices: Women Composers of Our Time?
Presence in Sound, Resonant Voices: Women Composers of Our Time is my solo piano album focusing on contemporary works by women composers. The album includes Gabriela Lena Frank’s Two Andean Portraits, Kathryn Salfelder’s Nocturno, and Courtney Bryan’s BLAM.
This project is very meaningful to me because it reflects my current artistic direction as a pianist. I wanted to present music that feels alive, personal, and connected to the world we live in today. Each piece has its own distinct voice, but together they create a program that explores rhythm, color, identity, atmosphere, and emotional expression.
What inspired you to create an album centered on women composers?
I have always been interested in contemporary piano music, but over time I became especially drawn to works by women composers. Their music often carries very individual sound worlds and powerful artistic perspectives.
For this album, I wanted to create a project that gives space to these voices. I did not want the album to feel like a general collection of pieces. I wanted it to have a clear artistic identity. The title, Presence in Sound, Resonant Voices, reflects that idea: these composers’ voices are present, expressive, and resonant, and I wanted to bring them to listeners through my interpretation.
Why did you choose Gabriela Lena Frank, Kathryn Salfelder, and Courtney Bryan?
I chose these composers because their works are very different from one another, yet they all speak strongly through the piano.
Gabriela Lena Frank’s Two Andean Portraits has a deep connection to cultural identity, rhythm, and landscape. Her music is colorful and vivid, and I was drawn to the way it combines imagination with a strong sense of place.
Kathryn Salfelder’s Nocturno creates a more intimate and atmospheric sound world. It has a refined sense of color and stillness, and it allowed me to explore a more poetic side of contemporary piano music.
Courtney Bryan’s BLAM is bold, energetic, and rhythmically powerful. It has a strong physical presence at the piano, and performing it requires both precision and freedom. I felt it was an important work to include because it brings a very different kind of intensity to the album.
What does the global release of this album mean to you?
The global release is a very important step for me. Through Global Gate Music, the album is available on major international platforms, which allows listeners from different countries and backgrounds to access the music.
As a pianist active on both American and international music stages, I find it meaningful that this project can reach a global audience. Contemporary piano music can sometimes feel distant to general listeners, but digital release gives the music a wider life beyond one concert hall or one city. I hope this album can introduce more listeners to these composers and to the expressive possibilities of contemporary piano music.
How did working with Global Gate Music shape this project?
Releasing the album through Global Gate Music gave the project an international platform. As an Austrian label, Global Gate Music supports artists across genres and focuses on helping music reach audiences through professional production and digital distribution.
For me, this was important because I wanted the album to be presented not just as a personal recording, but as a serious artistic project with an international reach. The label’s support helped make the music available across multiple platforms and gave the project a broader professional context.
Your performance of Courtney Bryan’s BLAM received a Silver Medal for Outstanding Achievement from the Global Music Awards in the United States. What does this recognition mean to you?
Receiving a Silver Medal for Outstanding Achievement from the Global Music Awards was very meaningful to me, especially because the recognition was connected to my performance of Courtney Bryan’s BLAM, one of the featured works on my album.
The Global Music Awards is an international music awards platform based in the United States, attracting submissions from artists around the world. Being recognized in this context was especially meaningful to me because the competition brings together a wide range of international musicians and is connected with a judging community of accomplished artists and industry professionals.
Its honorary judges include composers, vocalists, instrumentalists, and producers whose careers have been recognized through major industry honors, such as Grammy Awards, Emmy Awards, and Global Music Awards Gold Medal distinctions. Seeing names such as Ricky Kej, Darlene Koldenhoven, Charles Denler, Art Phillips, and other award-winning musicians associated with the judging environment made this recognition feel even more significant to me.
At the same time, what mattered most was that my performance of Courtney Bryan’s BLAM was recognized within an international setting. BLAM is a powerful and rhythmically intense piece. It requires strong physical energy, precision, and a deep understanding of character and sound. For me, this award was not only a recognition of one performance, but also an encouragement for the artistic direction I have been developing — focusing on contemporary piano music, women composers, and repertoire with a strong modern voice.
Because BLAM is also part of Presence in Sound, Resonant Voices: Women Composers of Our Time, this recognition gave the album an additional layer of meaning. It showed me that contemporary works by women composers can be recognized and appreciated on an international platform.
You were also named a Grand Award Winner in the Apex International Music Competition and performed at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall. Could you share your experience of that performance?
Being named a Grand Award Winner in the Apex International Music Competition and being invited to perform at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall was an unforgettable experience for me. Carnegie Hall is one of the most important concert venues in the world, so performing there carried a very special meaning.
For the Grand Award Winners Concert, I performed Courtney Bryan’s BLAM. It was meaningful for me because this piece is also included on my album, and it represents the kind of contemporary piano music that I am most interested in presenting. Performing it at Carnegie Hall allowed me to bring this work from the recording project onto an internationally recognized stage.
The experience gave me a stronger sense of confidence in my artistic direction. It reminded me that contemporary piano music can have a powerful presence in a major concert setting. For me, the Carnegie Hall performance was not only a personal milestone, but also an important extension of the artistic ideas behind my album.
You also received a Gold Award and a Most Influential Award from the Fresco Mélodie International Music Competition. How do you view this recognition?
Receiving both the Gold Award and the Most Influential Award from the Fresco Mélodie International Music Competition was very encouraging for me. This recognition was meaningful because Fresco Mélodie is connected to an international competition platform with a UK-based background and global artistic reach.
For me, the Gold Award recognized the musical and technical quality of my performance, while the Most Influential Award carried a different kind of significance. It suggested that the performance was not only evaluated for accuracy or execution, but also for its artistic impact and ability to leave a broader impression.
This is especially important to me because my recent work is centered on contemporary piano repertoire, particularly works by women composers. I hope to present this music in a way that feels personal, expressive, and accessible to listeners. Receiving recognition from an international competition with UK-related cultural and artistic context encouraged me to continue developing this direction.
Awards are not the final goal for me, but they can help affirm that the artistic path I am pursuing has value. The Fresco Mélodie recognition gave me confidence that contemporary piano music, when performed with sincerity and individuality, can resonate across different cultural and international contexts.
What was the recording process like for you?
The recording process required a lot of focus, because contemporary piano music often depends on very specific details of rhythm, color, sound, and timing. Each piece required a different mindset.
For Gabriela Lena Frank’s music, I focused on rhythmic character, cultural color, and the contrast between the two movements. For Kathryn Salfelder’s Nocturno, I paid close attention to atmosphere, resonance, and the shape of silence. For Courtney Bryan’s BLAM, I had to bring out the strong rhythmic drive and energy while still maintaining control and clarity.
Recording these works helped me understand them in a deeper way. In a live performance, the energy comes from the moment, but in recording, every sound becomes more exposed. It challenged me to be more precise and intentional.
How do these awards and performances connect with the album as a whole?
For me, the album, the awards, and the performances are all connected. Presence in Sound, Resonant Voices: Women Composers of Our Time is not only a recording project. It is also part of a larger artistic direction that I have been developing through performances, competitions, and collaborations.
Courtney Bryan’s BLAM is a good example of this connection. It appears on the album, received recognition from the Global Music Awards, and was also the piece I performed at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall. Through these different contexts, the work has become an important part of my artistic identity.
These experiences encouraged me to continue bringing contemporary piano music to broader audiences. Recording allows the music to reach listeners internationally, while live performance allows the work to exist in the energy of the moment. I see both as essential parts of my artistic path.
What do you hope listeners will feel when they hear the album?
I hope listeners feel that contemporary piano music can be expressive, emotional, and deeply human. Sometimes people think contemporary music is difficult to understand, but I believe these works can connect with listeners very directly when performed with sincerity and imagination.
I also hope the album encourages people to listen more closely to women composers. These works are not only important because of who wrote them, but because they are musically powerful, distinctive, and full of life.
How does this album connect with your identity as a pianist?
This album represents the kind of artist I am becoming. I am interested in music that carries personal meaning, cultural depth, and emotional intensity. I want my work as a pianist to go beyond simply performing standard repertoire. I want to build projects that have a clear artistic point of view.
As a performer, I feel connected to music that asks questions about identity, memory, sound, and the present moment. This album allowed me to bring those interests together in one project.
You have also performed some of this repertoire in Boston and New York. How are the performances connected to the album?
The performances and the album are closely connected. Before and around the release of Presence in Sound, Resonant Voices: Women Composers of Our Time, I presented related contemporary piano programs in both Boston and New York.
On February 1, 2026, I performed a solo piano recital at Old South Church in Boston, featuring works by Gabriela Lena Frank, Kathryn Salfelder, and Courtney Bryan. On March 21, 2026, I presented another solo recital at Kaufman Music Center in New York, continuing this focus on contemporary piano music and women composers.
On April 14, 2026, I performed at OPERA America’s National Opera Center in New York, where the program also included Brian Field’s Glaciers from Three Passions for Our Tortured Planet. I was especially honored that Brian Field attended the concert in person. Having a distinguished living composer present at my performance gave the experience a deeper meaning and strengthened my connection to the music.
These performances allowed me to bring the artistic ideas behind the album into live concert settings. They also helped me understand how audiences respond to this repertoire in different cities and venues. For me, the recording and the performances are not separate; they are two connected ways of presenting contemporary piano music to broader audiences.
What are your future plans after this album?
After this album, I plan to continue developing performance and recording projects centered on contemporary piano music, living composers, and clearly defined artistic themes. I am especially interested in music connected to nature, memory, identity, and inner emotional landscapes, because these subjects allow the piano to speak not only as a classical instrument, but also as a medium for contemporary reflection and emotional depth.
Looking ahead, I hope to continue presenting this repertoire through concerts, recordings, and international collaborations. I am interested in projects that place contemporary piano music in dialogue with broader artistic ideas, whether through works by women composers, music by living composers, or programs shaped around meaningful cultural and emotional themes. For me, each project should have a clear artistic purpose rather than simply function as a collection of pieces.
Presence in Sound, Resonant Voices represents an important part of my artistic direction, but it is not a closed chapter. It reflects my ongoing interest in sound, identity, and contemporary expression, and it also opens space for future projects that can bring this repertoire to new audiences and new performance contexts.
