By Nina Underman
<[email protected]> 

Not many high schoolers can say they’ve played at Carnegie Hall in New York City. But junior Jingxuan Zhang has. Twice.

On March 27, Zhang, who has been playing the piano for 12 years, will again take the stage, this time at a more local venue. After learning of the devastating effects the proposed school district budget cuts might have on the performing arts department, he decided to plan a benefit concert to help. 

The resulting concert is scheduled to take place March 27 at 5 p.m. in the Dale E. Graham Auditorium. According to Zhang, tickets will be sold at the door for $5, with all proceeds going directly to assist the performing arts department. The concert will last around 50 minutes.

“Since the performing arts department is very dear to me, I wanted to put on a benefit concert to raise money (for it),” Zhang said. “A lot of time has gone into the preparations. Overall, though, I’m excited.”

Zhang started the piano at age 5 after his parents asked him which instrument he wanted to play.

“At the time, I thought the piano was the coolest thing in the world, so that’s  why I picked it,” Zhang said.

Twelve years later, his love of music and the piano has remained strong. At the concert, Zhang said he will be playing four pieces, most of which he has been working on since the beginning of the school year. The pieces include work by Beethoven, Schumann and Chopin.

Orchestra director Rachel Tookolo said the proposed budget cuts would devastate the performing arts department. “We don’t know exact figures yet, but we’ve been told (the cuts) would be massive,” she said. “Obviously, programs across the district would be hurt, but here at the high school there would be a skeleton of the performing arts department as you see it now.”

Tookolo said, regardless of the budget situation, Zhang’s performance is worth attending. “Jingxuan is a phenomenal pianist with a huge gift,” Tookolo said. “Even if you don’t know a single thing about the budget cuts, if you want to hear good music you should go hear Jingxuan Zhang play the piano.”