Duo Piano Master Classes

A native of Penang, Malaysia, Sylvia Wang has presented solo and collaborative performances throughout the Americas, Europe, and the Far East. She has recorded for the Newport Classic label and Boston Records, and contemporary American music for Northeastern and CRI labels. She has been the winner and finalist in various competitions, including the Royal Overseas League Festival in London, an AVANTI award leading to a debut in London's Purcell Room, the Yellow Springs Chamber Music Competition, and the J.S. Bach International Piano Competition. Recent activities include guest classes at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts and Hong Kong Baptist University, the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory in Singapore, guest judging at the University of Michigan and the Peabody Conservatory and a six-city concert tour of China. She has also been a guest at the Chautauqua Institution, Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and the University of Western Australia in Perth. She acknowledges her debt to David Burge at the Eastman School of Music and Hamish Milne and Dennis Murdoch at the Royal Academy of Music, which she attended as an Associated Board scholar. In recognition of "distinction in the field", the Academy awarded her an honorary Associate of the Royal Academy of Music.

Pianist Haewon Song is a member of the acclaimed Oberlin Trio. An internationally recognized artist and pedagogue, Song has performed and taught at top venues throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. Her frequent appearances include concerto performances with the KBS Orchestra in Seoul, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, and Oberlin Conservatory ensembles.  

Song has appeared at numerous international festivals, among them Mexico’s Cervantino Festival, the All-American Music Festival in Stuttgart, Grand Teton Music Festival, Aria Festival, Canada’s Institute of Musical Arts, Festival de Nice in France, the Oberlin Summer Piano Festival, and the Tonghai Music Festival in Taiwan. In 2005, Song toured Korea as a member of the Oberlin Piano Quartet, which included celebrated performances in Daejun and at the Kumho Concert Hall in Seoul.

A native of South Korea, Song attended the Toho School in Tokyo, Peabody Preparatory School, and the Juilliard School, where her major teachers were Julian Martin, Martin Canin, and Shuku Iwasaki. She has taught at Tunghai University in Taiwan and Kyung Won University in Seoul, and has been a member of the Oberlin piano department since 1991. Throughout her tenure at Oberlin, her students have won major prizes in both national and international competitions, including MTNA Nationals, Wideman, Kingsville, Oberlin International Piano, Walgreen, World, and Corpus Christi, and they regularly appear with significant orchestras across the United States and Asia.

Grand Prize winner of the 18th Tokyo International Duo Piano Competition, the Liang-He Duo has been acclaimed for its combined artistry and synchronicity. The members of the duo, Xiaomin Liang and Jue He, began playing together when they were students at Northwestern University. They later developed into a professional ensemble while living in Chicago.
 
The duo has performed in festivals and concert series throughout Asia and North America and has frequently been featured on WFMT, Chicago’s classical music radio station. The Liang-He duo successfully toured over 40 cities in China from 2012 to 2014, performing in major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, receiving rave reviews and further accolades. They recently returned from their tour in the summer of 2019, during which they were invited by the prestigious Poly theater to perform in 15 of the newest state-of-art venues across China. Other accomplishments include winning third prize in the “Liszt 200 International Two-Piano Competition” and being named Chicagoland’s first “Young Steinway Artists.”.
 
The Liang-He Duo is committed to developing a unique repertoire based on exploring the classics of two-piano literature, as well as creating new works through commissions. Their innovative programs combine traditional and less-frequently performed works. Both Xiaomin Liang and Jue He received their Doctorate degrees in piano performance from Northwestern University.

Xiao-min Liang

Born in Beijing, China, award-winning pianist Xiao-min Liang is known for her outstanding musicianship, extraordinary sensitivity and virtuosity.  Praised by the New York Times for her vivid and exhilarating playing, Dr. Liang has performed in major concert venues such as Merkin Concert Hall, Avery Fischer Hall and Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Chicago Symphony Center, the Grand National Theater and the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing.  As a chamber musician and recitalist, she has appeared in music festivals including the Beijing International Music Festival, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, Pianofest and the Gilmore Festival.  Dr. Liang received top prizes at the China National Piano Competition for three consecutive years, the Five Town Piano Competition in New York, the Douglaston Young Artist Competition in Long Island, and the Concerto Competition at Northwestern University.  As a winner of the Artist International Competition, Dr. Liang made her debut at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie in 2000. On top of her solo performance career, her professional duo ensemble, the Liang-He Duo, was the Grand prize winner of the 18th Tokyo International Duo Piano Competition and received third prize in the Liszt 200 International Duo Piano Competition.

Xiaomin Liang began her studies at the Central Conservatory in Beijing where she was a pupil of Hui-su Chen.  Since moving to the US, she has studied with Victoria Mushkatkol at Interlochen Arts Academy.  She graduated from the Juilliard School, receiving both a Bachelor's and Master's degrees where she was a full scholarship student studying with Jerome Lowenthal.  She has also received coaching from Jacob Lateiner, Seymour Lipkin, and Felix Galimir at Juilliard.  Xiaomin Liang received her doctoral degree in Piano Performance from Northwestern University, where her teachers included Ursula Oppens and Sylvia Wang.  Dr. Liang is serving on the piano faculty at the Music Institute of Chicago and School of Music at DePaul University.

Jue He

Jue He, a native of Shanghai, China, has been acclaimed for her combination of vigorous and eloquent performances. The Denver Post praised Dr. He for her “first-rate performance” in collaborating with the Aspen Festival Orchestra. She has performed and given lecture recitals both as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States. She is currently on the faculty at Benedictine University.
 
Together with cellist Alisa Horn, she released the Rachmaninoff and Miaskovsky Sonatas for Cello and Piano; and the duo’s performance was broadcast on WQXR-FM in New York City. In addition to playing with Ms. Horn, Dr. He regularly collaborates with members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and her performances are frequently broadcast on WFMT in Chicago. Her most recent collaboration was with IMG artist Nina Kotova, touring six cities in China.
 
Dr. He started her studies at Shanghai Conservatory, high school division. She graduated from University of Denver, receiving her Bachelor’s degree as a full scholarship recipient. Later on, Dr. He received both her Master’s and Doctoral Degrees in Piano Performance and Collaborative Arts from Northwestern University, graduating with top honors. Her teachers include Dr. Sylvia Wang and Dr. Elizabeth Buccheri.