Linda Ruan

Hi, I'm Linda. I switched from drums to piano at age seven, largely because I wanted to wear pretty dresses. My parents, I'm sure, were relieved I traded in the drums. Somewhere between that tiny town in southern China and the slightly bigger one of Shanghai, I fell for the music itself, and for the adrenaline of the stage.

When people ask me what my favourite composer is, or what I specialize in, I never have a tidy answer. It's usually whatever I'm in the trenches with that week: if I'm living inside Bartók, it's Bartók; if it's Bach, or Clara Schumann, or Andy Akiho, then it's that. I don't really believe in the labels: new-music specialist, classical pianist, chamber pianist. I just want to play music I love, and there is so much of it.

Nearly two decades and a few countries later, what I still care about most is connection: reaching someone across culture, language, or generation, through nothing but sound. I vlog and blog about the meandering, occasionally absurd experience of being a musician today. Come read along.