ISSUED: 29 January 2019
MEDIA CONTACT: Valerie Owens
SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — Shepherd University will present a piano concert featuring Dr. Yu-Hsuan Liao and Dr. Tzu-Yun Chen on Sunday, February 3, at 3 p.m. in the Frank Center’s McCoy Rehearsal Hall. The two pianists will present music of Sergei Rachmaninoff and Leonard Bernstein’s “Symphonic Dances” from the musical West Side Story. The concert is free and open to the public.
Originally from Taipei, Taiwan, Liao, director of keyboard studies at Shepherd, is a piano soloist, collaborative artist, and music educator. She has expanded her repertoire in instrumental, chamber, vocal, and choral music in various styles and periods. Liao worked with the American Repertory Ensemble (A.R.E.) and performed piano solo, chamber, and accompanying vocal music in the company’s performance series. Her solo performance with A.R.E., “Valses Poéticos” (Passion at Play), was nominated for best instrumentalist in the Austin Critics Table Awards for the 2008-2009 season. Liao gave a piano lecture-recital based on her 2009 published book “Manuel de Falla’s Cuatro Piezas Españoles: Combinations and Transformations of the Spanish Folk Modes” and a solo piano performance in the composers’ new composition concert at College Music Society conferences. She is an active member of the West Virginia Music Teachers Association and has been granted the National Certification for Teacher of Music by the Music Teachers National Association. Liao is the district chair of the Eastern Panhandle Music Teachers Association and the organization’s state collaborative performance chair. Liao regularly performs at festivals and competitions around the West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., region.
A native Taiwanese pianist, Chen won several titles of piano competitions held by organizations such as the Music Teachers National Association and the Alabama Music Teachers Association. As a lifetime member of the music honor society Phi Kappa Lambda, Chen is now associate professor at Ling Tung University in Taiwan. She is an active concert and collaborative pianist who has performed in Taiwan, the United States, Canada, Austria, France, and China. From 2000-2007, Chen served as pianist and voice coach for the Austrian American Mozart Academy in Salzburg, Austria, and has served as pianist and voice coach for the Franco-American Vocal Academy in France.
For more information, call 304-876-5555 or visit www.shepherd.edu/music/.
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