Taiwanese pianist Chiao-Ying Chang is just 23 years old but she plays with a maturity far beyond those years.

This slim and slightly-built young lady is a muscular player and began her recital with a powerful reading of Beethoven's Fourth Sonata.

She achieved a monster sound from her Steinway, a strong, sharp, almost masculine, reading that smoothly filled the sold-out Pavilion Theatre.

Chang began studying the piano at the age of three and at just 11 years old, she won first prize in the National Piano Competition in Taiwan.

In 1997, she became the youngest ever student at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where she recently graduated with the highest honours.

But she has been an award winner ever since she came to Britain, taking fifth prize at the Leeds International Piano Competition last September as well as numerous other medals and awards in competitions up and down the country.

She plays like a soul possessed, seemingly unable to open her eyes while she performs. She does not so much as play the music as live in it.

Her concentration is fierce and deep and she is well focused with bags of technique and shedloads of attack.

Her second piece was a beautifully tender version of Schubert's delicate Third Impromptu and she ended her recital with four Klavierstuks by Brahms. These by turns were powerful, haunting and deliciously poignant.

Chang's concerto work has already led her to perform with the San Francisco Symphony and next year she will appear with the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra.