Alison Chiang

Starting piano at age five in Champaign, Illinois, Alison Chiang won her first piano competition two years later in the 1999 St. Charles Illinois Music Competition.  When her family moved to Cleveland, Ohio in 2000, she studied with Olga Radosavljevich at the Cleveland Institute of Music with full scholarship support for seven years.  During that time, Alison made her concerto debut (at age thirteen) with the Lakeside Symphony Orchestra under Robert Cronquist playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21.  Two years later, she also performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with both the Cleveland Woman’s Orchestra and the Lakeside Symphony.

After her family moved to Dallas, Texas in 2008, Alison won several top prizes in piano competitions, including the Vernell Gregg Young Artist Competition, Collin County Young Artist Competition, and Lynn Harrell Concerto Competition, performing concertos with the Lewisville Lake Symphony and the Plano Symphony Orchestra.  While attending high school during this time, she continued piano studies with Pamela Mia Paul at the University of North Texas.

Alison is currently pursuing her Doctorate Degree in Piano Performance at the Eastman School of Music, where she also received her Bachelors and Masters degrees.  She studied with Nelita True for undergrad, where her favorite hobbies included watching sunrises in the studio while practicing Bach and washing dishes at annual studio parties.  During her college years, Alison won top prizes in the Seattle International Piano Competition (Youth Division), Mondavi Young Artist Competition (Senior Division), Coeur d’Alene Symphony Young Artist’s Competition (College Division), Jefferson Symphony International Young Artists Competition, and Thousands Islands International Competition for Young People.

Continuing her Masters and Doctorate degrees with Natalya Antonova, Alison also teaches Class Piano and Secondary Piano.  She studies secondary organ as well.  Her most recent honors include top prizes in the Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Piano Competition and Lennox International Young Artists Competition, as well as Second Prize in the Wideman International Piano Competition and a performance of the Brahms D minor Piano Concerto with the Shreveport Symphony.

Alison spends her summers practicing, reading books, traveling with her family, shopping, catching up on new movies, and attending music festivals.  Recently, she has attended Art of the Piano, Atlantic Music Festival, PianoTexas, Aspen, and Bowdoin Music Festivals, playing in masterclasses for Barry Douglas, Vladimir Feltsman, Yoshikazu Nagai, José Feghali, John Perry, John Owings, Alon Goldstein, Alexandr Shtarkman, Tamás Ungár, Arie Vardi, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Jeffrey Kahane, and Yong-Hi Moon.

When not practicing piano, Alison spends time with her siblings (who also play piano) and enjoys learning science in her parent’s lab at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.


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