Xiao Chen

Chinese-born pianist Xiao Chen is actively engaged as both a soloist and chamber musician throughout the U.S., China, and Europe, having performed at prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, Fischer Center for Performing Arts, and Shanghai Concert Hall. Her performances have been well received by many; New York Concert Review praised her that “she has a strong interest in communicating, and that urge is apparent in performances of expressiveness and purposefulness”, while Shanghai Youth Daily said “her energetic and breathtaking performance impressed the audience”.

Dr. Chen is currently on faculty at Mount Saint Mary’s University, having served as lecturer in Piano Performance at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2019. A dedicated pedagogue, Dr. Chen founded and directed the Los Angeles Young Virtuoso International Music Festival, with the objective of providing performance and educative opportunities for students from all over the world. Moreover, she is the music director of Irvine Conservatory of Music, a “Steinway Select School”, as well as the founder and artistic director of Irvine Conservatory International Music Competition.

Dr. Chen is the recipient of several prizes; awards include The American Prize, Frances Walton
Competition, Carmel Music Society Piano Competition, The Muse International Competition, and Steinway & Sons International Youth Piano Competition in China. As the winner of the Frances Walton Competition in 2017, she played a concert tour across Washington State, during which she gave recitals and was aired live on Classical KING FM 98.1. Furthermore, Dr. Chen has served as a jury member in many piano competitions, including the New West Symphony Piano Competition in Los Angeles, “Pearl River Keyserburg” International Piano Competition, MAP International Music Competition, and Hainan Airline Piano Competition. As a recording artist, Dr. Chen has recorded for Yamaha’s Disklavier Educational Network and the Scott Joplin Piano Works Archive.

Dr. Chen has been invited to perform in a number of music festivals, including the Morningside Bridge Summer Festival, Yellow Barn Music Festival, Pianofest Summer Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Manchester Music Festival, and Italy Perugia Music Fest. Over the years, she has worked with esteemed pianists and artists such as Gary Graffman, Seymour Lipkin, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Richard Goode, Peter Frankl, Claude Frank, Wu Han, Gloria Cheng, Ann Schein, Paul Schenly, Vivian Hornik Weilerstein, Joseph Lin, Neal Stulberg, Antonio Lysy, Movses Pogossian, and the Shanghai Quartet.

Additionally, Dr. Chen has participated as an educator on occasions. She has collaborated with Bard Conservatory US-China Music Institute and created a new piano course for young students in China. Dr. Chen has also been invited to present lectures and concerts as a recurring guest professor at UCLA and the Santa Monica College. Her role as an educator also extends to online course. She has published many online courses for piano performance practice which are distributed on major Chinese educational platforms. Dr. Chen’s students have been the prize winners in international competitions and performed in prestigious concert halls in the United States and Europe.

Dr. Chen attended Bard College as a double major, receiving her Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance under Melvin Chen from the Bard College Conservatory of Music, and her Bachelor of Arts degree in Language and Literature from Bard College. She furthered her studies at The Juilliard School in New York under Jerome Lowenthal, obtaining her Master of Music degree. Most recently, Dr. Chen received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from UCLA under the tutelage of Inna Faliks.

Dr. Chen released her new solo piano album “Kaleidoscope” with Sheva Collection in 2020, which is distributed on major platforms including Naxos, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Spotify.