――You started playing piano when you were three, but was there a particular event that led you to take up the piano?

Alice: My mother was a pianist, so there was a piano in our home, but it was when I attended a recital for the first time and saw everyone sitting silently for two hours with their eyes on the stage not speaking a word the entire time that I really felt the enchantment of music. What if it was me on that stage playing the piano and what if everyone was listening to me? It was a pretty simple idea.

――What is your secret for having continued with the piano after all this time?

Alice: I think everyone worries over what their own identity really is, but I never really worried all that much about my identity because I had music. Indeed, it is music that gives me a sense of identity and a sense of place. So I’ve never worried that much about my identity because wherever I go in the world people no matter their nationality listen to the music and the music is something that is shared with people of different countries.