Sunday, May 13, 2007 at 7:00 p.m.
Daniel Hsu | Tiffany Chu | Chloe Pang | Yuma Sung | Chetan Tierra
Program

This concert, on May 13, 2007, features carefully selected, exceptional young performers, many from the Bay Area. Each has won in prestigious local or national piano competitions. This concert is eagerly anticipated by many Bay Area families and Steinway Society friends who all agree: performances by these dedicated, enthusiastic, and tremendously talented up-and-coming young musicians can be every bit as spine-tingling and memorable in their own way as performances by our more seasoned artists.

Daniel Hsu

Daniel Hsu, age 9, is currently a student of Professor Hans Boepple. He started piano at age 6 with Larisa Kagan and has also studied with Olya Katsman. Most recently, Daniel was the winner of the 2007 Menuhin-Dowling Young Artist Competition. He has also performed Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 2 with the El Camino Youth Symphony (ECYS) Sinfonietta Orchestra in March after winning the ECYS Piano Concerto Competition. In 2006, Daniel was the 1st place winner of the All-State Music Teachers' Association of California (MTAC) Piano Concerto Competition playing Mozart Piano Concerto No. 17. Daniel was also the first place winner of CAPMT All-State Bartok and Contemporary Music competition. He was the winner of the Taghioff Prize of Fremont Symphony Concerto Competition (for age group 16 and under) and has performed with the Fremont Symphony twice. Daniel was selected to perform the Bach Concerto in f minor with Golden Gate Philharmonic Orchestra in the Junior Bach Concert in March. He was also a winner of Mozart Festival Piano Concerto Competition and has performed with Castro Valley Chamber Orchestra to celebrate Mozart's 250th birthday. In 2005, Daniel received many awards: 1st Place winner of San Francisco Chopin Competition; and Winner of Fremont Cultural Arts Young Artist Showcase. Daniel enjoys reading and collecting toy cars. He loves to play piano duo and duet with his brother and sister. When he grows up, Daniel wants to become a concert pianist.

Tiffany Chu

Tiffany Chu is currently in the 5th grade at Harker School. At age 5, she began taking piano lessons with Jennifer Li. At 8, she began taking lessons with Mr. Daniel Cheng. At age 6, she won the first place in the Chinese Music Teacher Association of North California Youth Piano Competition, age 6-7 division. At age of 7, she won the first place again in CMTANC Youth Piano Competition age 8-9 division. In the same year, Tiffany also won the first place in the talent show held by the major media Chinese News Paper, SingDao News and Great America Theme Park. Tiffany was the winner of the Menuhin-Dowling Young Musicians Competition in 2006, and also the Honorable Mention in MTAC State Piano Solo Competition in group I. She has attended the master classes with the legendary pianist, Ruth Slenczynska and the maestro of China Philharmonic, Shi Shu Chen. She was a selected student in Steinway Society's Midsummer Music Youth Camp to perform in the concluding concert in 2006. Besides playing piano, Tiffany also loves music and sports. She says that “music enriches my thoughts and sports help me relax.” Additionally, Tiffany enjoys reading books and writing poems. The beauty of poetry helps her to express her feelings toward music.

Chloe Pang

15 yr-old pianist, Chloe Pang, is a scholarship student of Mack McCray at the San Francisco Conservatory Prep Division. She made her Carnegie Hall debut for “From the Top: LIVE from Carnegie Hall” last fall and was featured nationally on PBS' premiere episode April 7. Additionally, Chloe performed Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1 with Oakland Civic Orchestra and recently performed for American Liszt Society's National Festival. She performed Rhapsody in Blue with El Camino Youth Symphony in March and will again in June before touring Russia, Estonia, and Finland with them this summer. In addition to performing as recitalist and chamber musician, Chloe appeared more than a dozen times with prestigious Bay Area symphonies as well as Harvard's Bach Society Orchestra (Cambridge, MA) since making her professional debut at age 8. Her debut with the California Symphony brought critical acclaim (“High-wattage centerpiece…Poised beyond her years” -Georgia Rowe, Contra Costa Times and “Bold, athletic ferocity” -Joshua Kosman, SF Chronicle). Recorded at 12, Miss Pang's Debut CD of the Goldberg Variations was acclaimed by International Piano Magazine. She performed at Columbia Artists' CAMI Hall, on the Late Show with David Letterman, and at Boston's Jordan Hall. Chloe is Founder-Director of Hearts for Arts. Please visit chloepang.com

Yuma Sung

Yuma Sung was born in the spring of 1989 in Silicon Valley in Northern California. He began studying calssical piano at the age of six and was attracted to Jazz piano at the age of nine. In 2000, two years after he started jazz piano, he won first place in the San Jose Youth Jazz Competition. Since then, being involved in many jazz activities, Yuma won outstanding soloist and music from many jazz competitions, including Reno Jazz Festival, Central California Jazz Festival, San Jose Jazz Festival. In August 2003, Yuma was honored to be part of the Three Generation Concert with Dave Brubeck and David Benoit. He also performed with other famous Jazz masters, such as Oscar Peterson, Hank Jones, Barry Harris, James Moody, The Heath Brothers, Jon Faddis, Phil Woods, Dave Koz, Ndugu Chanceller, In 2006 and 2007, he was selected as Grammy Jazz Ensemble Combo pianist. They toured Los Angeles for 10 days in February. During this event, they were invited to attend the Grammy Show in Los Angeles. He started his first jazz composition when he was 10 years old. He has composed numerous original pieces to date. He submitted one of his original composition called “Looking Up” to DownBeat Magazine and won first place in its 25th Original Composition Contest. This was a tune that Yuma wrote in loving memory of his two beloved jazz teachers. In the subsequent year, he won the Best Arranger and Best Soloist awards from DownBeat Magazine. And in 2005, one of his tunes, “ Prima's First Dance” was nominated as a finalist in ISC (International Songwriting Competition) out of 15,000 tunes submitted. As Yuma polishes his talents in Music, he has started to contribute his knowledge to help inspiring the other youth. He began teaching at the San Jose Jazz Camp from the summer of 2000. His musical interest is not limited to Jazz, but expands to other genres of music as well. Yuma has released 2 CDs: the latest one, Yuma Style, is from Columbia Music Entertainment in 2005, which has received the Gold Disc Award.

Chetan Tierra

Critically acclaimed for his "warm tone" and "soulful manner," * emerging young American pianist Chetan Tierra has been seen on concert stages in North America and Europe since the age of six. He holds prizes in over twenty competitions including first prize and the gold medal at the Eighth California International Young Artists Competition, first prize at the Twenty-Eighth Frinna Awerbuch International Piano Competition, and second prize at the Eighteenth New Orleans International Piano Competition. He has been featured on Italy's "teleblu" TV channel, as well as on WCLV and KUSP radio stations. Among many performances, Mr. Tierra made his Carnegie Hall debut in November 2006 where the NY Concert Review Magazine called his performance "Magnificent" and he was labeled as "the real deal." Other noteworthy performances include appearances with the Louisiana Philharmonic, the Santa Cruz Symphony, the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, and the TSO orchestra at the Brevard Music Festival. Upcoming engagements include solo and concerto appearances in Portugal, San Jose, Cleveland, and New York. Mr. Tierra gives most of his credit to current teacher and world class pianist, Antonio Pompa-Baldi, and his gifted former teacher, Hans Boepple. He has also had the priviledge to work with Peter Serkin, Misha Dichter, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Sergei Babayan, Daniel Shapiro, Paul Schenly, Emma Tahmizian, Alvin Chow, Pawel Skrzypek, and Bruce Murray. Currently residing in Cleveland, Ohio, Chetan is completing his studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music. "All of the works were performed with excellent musical insight, thorough preparation, prefessionalism and artistry." - Josef Sekon * From the Times-Picaynne, New Orleans