On Sunday, April 13, Brandon Cheng ’25 filled Taplin Auditorium with people and good music for his senior recital, a rite of passage (and a requirement) for all Music Performance minors. His cello, accompanied by a piano and other cellos, projected clearly across the magenta-lit stage. This was the culmination of his cello playing at Princeton. The Daily Princetonian sat down with Cheng after the concert to learn more about his music performance journey and the recital preparation process.
This interview has been edited lightly for clarity and concision.
The Daily Princetonian: When and how did you start playing the cello?
Brandon Cheng: I started playing when I was five. My mom said, “Violin will look ugly on you if you get super tall and long, and a violin looks so small.” I never got tall, but I ended up really liking the [cello]. Something about the deepness of [its] sound is really appealing to me.
DP: What made you continue your cello playing at Princeton?
BC: When I came here, I wasn’t sure what cello was going to be like for me because I played it so seriously in high school. There’s so much stuff to do on campus. I remember my freshman year, I tried out so many different things. I was on the mock trial team. I played club soccer for a little bit. At first, I didn’t want music to be such a big part of my experience. But I couldn’t stay away from it. I found myself continuing to keep playing in more groups, and every time I went to rehearsal, it was such a good break from work. For me, it happened very naturally. As corny as it sounds, it’s actually really cool, and it made sense to do the minor.
DP: What was the biggest challenge in your musical growth at Princeton?
BC: The first thing is the time commitment — six hours per week for the Princeton University Orchestra — and finding time to practice. So, making time for it is hard. The second thing is that there are so many amazing, wonderful groups on campus that it can be a little bit hard to schedule performance spaces here. That’s another challenge with the school: there are so many different groups that it’s hard to find a consistent time to do performances for student groups. I’m part of Opus, and we [performed] in Richardson [Auditorium] this semester, which is really nice. We don’t always have that luxury.
DP: Are you involved with other classical music groups on campus?
BC: I’m in the [Princeton] University Orchestra, PUO. I’m also in Opus, which is a chamber music group. We all make little groups amongst ourselves and play chamber works together. I’m also in La Vie En Cello, which is the all-cello group on campus. One hundred percent, a lot of my best friends have come from the music community. When you play a lot, you understand what it’s like to practice a ton every day, and you know people who all know and love the same pieces of music. When you all get together and do that together, it’s a really good feeling. We do a lot of stuff besides music together at social gatherings. I find myself connecting with music people and getting where they’re coming from.
DP: How did you feel preparing for the concert?
BC: One of the reasons why I wanted to do [the minor] is because I knew I wanted to do a recital performance, which is such an amazing time to show off all the stuff you’ve been working on for four years. Choosing what to play in the program was hard because there’s so much you want to play versus what you can realistically learn. My thesis was due April 10, so I spent last week not doing any practicing. The feeling of getting back into practicing almost forced me to practice for the recital, but then I found myself enjoying it. Working on a piece by myself was a comforting feeling. It was stressful sometimes, but it was so fun compared to any number of normal assignments or problems.
DP: How did you choose pieces for the program?
BC: It’s a mix of the big, amazing pieces in the cello repertoire that I have never played before and really wanted to play. That piece for me this time was the Brahms Cello Sonata No. 2 in F major. It’s such a bold, confident piece. I always love Brahms’ music, so that sonata has always been on my bucket list. To balance out the rest of the program, I wanted to have a lot of shorter pieces that feature my friends and also get to showcase different sides of the cello. Elgar’s “Salut d’Amour” is a piece that I just love. It’s so soothing and sweeping, and to have my good friend Will play the piano was amazing. Also, having my four cello friends play in Carlos Gardel’s “Por una cabeza” was such a fun piece to put together and rehearse. When I was preparing for the recital, it was a mix of getting my friends involved and small things that showcased different parts of the cello.
DP: How are you feeling now after the concert?
BC: I’m really happy with how it turned out. I feel grateful that a lot of people came to the concert and I was able to play for my friends. Some of them have heard before that I’ve played cello, but haven’t seen me play. Others have come to concerts where I’ve not been the main feature. To have people come to [my own concert] and hear me for an hour and see me in a different type of setting, I loved being able to share that side of myself. Overall, there’s always a few mistakes [in my playing] here and there, but I was pretty happy with how it turned out.
DP: Do you plan to continue playing after graduation?
BC: I definitely hope so. I’m going to be in New York. I don’t know if people will complain, given the thin apartment walls, but I’m gonna definitely make my best effort to join the local community groups around, given there’s a pretty good [music] scene in New York.
Chloe Lau ’27 is an assistant Features editor and a staff Prospect writer for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections@dailyprincetonian.com.
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