When Forrest Gao ’23 was five years old, his parents bought him a small electric keyboard. From there, his passion for the piano was sparked. He soon upgraded to a full sized piano, began taking lessons, and by 8th grade was recognized as PBS’s June 2018 Classical Student Musician of the Month.
Regarding his parents’ influence on his musical journey, Gao said, “My grandfather was a pretty musical person, but I think my parents didn’t play too much music in their time, so they really wanted me to play some piano.”
Gao finds inspiration in musicians both far and close to home. For example, he names famous Chinese pianist Lang Lang as a specific role model. More locally, Gao said with certainty that he takes inspiration from Deerfield pianist and piano teacher Yu-Mei Wei. Gao described Ms. Wei as a “fantastic pianist” and said, “I have to thank her a lot for all of the improvement I’ve made in my piano playing throughout my time at Deerfield.”
When it comes to the piano’s unique traits as an instrument, Gao described, “It’s a difficult instrument because we can’t really string together any notes like on the violin or cello.” He finds enjoyment in the challenge that comes with the individuality of the keys, however. When Gao is able to create the illusion of a legato and the notes align just right, he falls in love with the music.
When Gao came to Deerfield, he began playing chamber music, and making music in a group setting quickly became special to him. During his time at the Academy, he has been a part of several chamber groups as well as the Advanced Chamber Music class during his sophomore and junior years. He has enjoyed being able to play with a variety of musicians such as violinists, violists, cellists, and flutists, as well as group sizes ranging from duos to quintets.
When Gao has a performance approaching or a big piece he is trying to learn, he will practice for around an hour and a half five days a week. Daphne Huang ’25, a musical peer of Gao’s, said, “Forrest learns things very fast, and you can totally tell he uses his analytical brain when he works on music.” She shared an anecdote about his ability to manipulate notes: Huang once asked Gao if he could make a certain portion of a piece “sound soft and round and beautiful like a pearl,” and she was amazed by his ability to do so.
One of Gao’s most memorable performances was at Carnegie Hall when he played Saint Saëns Piano Quintet in A Minor. He recalled that, since he had COVID a week before, he was uncertain about his ability to play preceding the performance. Gao was grateful to have ended up performing and said, “we had practiced for half of the school year on this one chamber piece and so finally being able to perform it was incredible.”
Gao also fondly recalls playing the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto with Ms. Wei for the 2023 Senior Concerto Competition earlier this year. Gao had anticipated complications with the logistics of playing alongside Ms. Wei with two pianos, but ultimately said, “I think we were able to mix our sound together really well.” Performing this concerto had been a dream of Gao’s since sophomore fall when he first heard it. Gao said, “I listened to all three movements of the concerto. And the one that stuck out instantly to me was the second movement.” He added, “It’s a very beautiful melodic movement. Very slow and passionate.” On Gao’s performance, Ms. Wei explained that the difficulty with the second movement of the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto is playing it slowly.
As the winner of the Senior Concerto Competition, Gao will be playing the piece again with the Deerfield Orchestra. Ms. Wei said, “I can’t wait to hear how the orchestra and him collaborate together, which will allow more color and possibilities.”