Mei-Hsuan Huang, assistant professor of piano at Iowa State University, will present the next concert of Drake University’s Keys to Excellence Piano Series on Monday, March 26 at 7:30 p.m. in Sheslow Auditorium. The performance is free and open to the public, and will feature the following works:
Sonata in F Major. K. 332
W.A. Mozart (1756-1791)
Prelude Op. 23 No.4
Moments Musicaux Op. 16 No.4
S. Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)
Nocturne Op. 9 No.2
Nocturne Op. 55 No.2
Barcarolle, Op. 60
F. Chopin (1810-1849)
Pianist Mei-Hsuan Huang is assistant professor of piano at Iowa State University and a member of the Amara Piano Quartet (Joanne Rile Artists Management).
Keys to Excellence Piano Series 2017-18
MARCH 26, 2018: Mei-Hsuan Huang – Iowa State University
APRIL 23, 2018: Peter Miyamoto – University of Missouri (Columbia)
PAST PERFORMANCES
SEPTEMBER 25, 2017: Steven Spooner – University of Kansas
NOVEMBER 6, 2017: Arthur Greene – University of Michigan
NOVEMBER 27, 2017: Nicholas Roth – Drake University
JANUARY 29, 2018: Roustem Saitkoulov – Russia
FEBRUARY 5, 2018: Asaf Zohar – Tel Aviv University
All performances begin at 7:30 p.m. in Sheslow Auditorium and are free and open to the public.
Huang has been a prizewinner in several international piano competitions, including the USASU International Piano Competition in Tempe, Arizona, the 57th Wideman Piano Concerto Competition in Shreveport, Louisiana, and the International Chopin Piano Competition in Taipei, Taiwan. She regularly performs over fifty solo and chamber recitals every year in Europe, States, Canada and Taiwan. She has been invited to summer festivals including the 2006 Aspen Music Festival, the 2007 Pianofest in the East Hamptons, the 2008 Orford Music Festival, Quebec, the 2010 Atlantic Music Festival in Maine, the 2012 CICA Eureka Springs International Music Festival in Arkansas, and the 2012 and 2013 Banff Music Festival, Alberta. Festivals increasingly ask for her presence on their artist rosters. Recently, Huang also was presented in a piano recital in National Taiwan Concert Hall (Taipei), as a result of being nominated for the prize of “Excellent Musician Series” by ProArtist.
In 2013, Huang performed George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” with the Central Iowa Symphony, Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto with the Iowa State University Orchestra, and Camille Saint-Saëns’ “Carnival of the Animals” with the Des Moines Symphony. In 2017, she performed Bach’s F Minor Keyboard Concerto and many chamber concerts with the Caroga Lake Chamber Orchestra in New York and Switzerland. Huang has travelled with the Amara Quartet to perform at the Colours of Music Festival in Barrie, Ontario and on concert series in Illinois, Virginia, Michigan, Ohio, and Texas. The quartet released compact disc on the Fleur de Son label in 2016, a recording of American quartets that will feature the piano quartet by George Tsontakis’ piano quartet No. 3, Dark Rosaleen—written by Lee Hoiby for the Ames Piano Quartet—a piano quartet by Walter Piston and Carolina Reveille by Paul Schoenfield. The quartet will release compact disc on the Fleur de Son label in 2018 including both Faure Piano Quartets.
Huang received her bachelors degree at The National Taiwan Normal University, where, she won the prestigious Xing Tang Temple Piano Competition Prize. She received her masters degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Sergei Babayan, Margarita Shevchenko, and Paul Schenly. She received her doctorate of musical arts degree at The Ohio State University under full-scholarship.
Huang is on piano faculty at The Atlantic Music Festival in Maine and guest pianist at Caroga Lake Music Festival in New York during the summer. Huang was named a Steinway & Sons Artist since 2014.
The Keys to Excellence Piano Series was created to raise awareness of Drake’s fundraising efforts for the purpose of 70 brand new Yamaha pianos for the music department. It brings internationally acclaimed artists to perform on the Yamaha CFX concert grand at Drake University.
The series is supported by Yamaha, West Music, Civic Music Association, and Drake University. For more information, contact Nicholas Roth at 515-321-5947 or nicholas.roth@drake.edu
KEYS TO EXCELLENCE PIANO SERIES 2017-18:
SEPTEMBER 25: Steven Spooner – University of Kansas
NOVEMBER 6: Arthur Greene – University of Michigan
NOVEMBER 27: Nicholas Roth – Drake University
JANUARY 29: Roustem Saitkoulov – Russia
FEBRUARY 5: Asaf Zohar – Tel Aviv University
MARCH 26: Mei-Hsuan Huang – Iowa State University
APRIL 23: Peter Miyamoto – University of Missouri (Columbia)
All performances begin at 7:30 p.m. in Sheslow Auditorium and are free and open to the public.