Sheng-Yuan Kuan 官聖媛, Pianist

Born in Taipei,  Taiwan, pianist Sheng-Yuan Kuan holds degrees from the Yale School of Music and the Manhattan School of Music. Ms. Kuan has obtained awards at competitions worldwide, including the 13th Beethoven Piano Competition in Vienna (Best Female Pianist Award, 2009), the 12th Taipei Chopin International Piano Competition (3rd Prize, 2008), Corpus Christi International Competition in Texas (2nd Prize, 2008), New York’s Kosciuszko Chopin Piano Competition (3rd Prize, 2003), and BYU-Hawaii Concerto Competition (Winner, 2000). She was also the recipient of Honolulu Morning Music Club Scholarship, Peabody Institute of Music’s Career Development Grant, Chamber Music Award and Accompanying Assistantship.

Her performances have brought her to major music venues, including Vienna’s Musikverein, Taipei National Concert Hall, and the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.. Before coming to the United States for her undergraduate studies, Sheng-Yuan had won top prizes at the Taipei Western Area Youth Competition, in the piano and violin categories, and the first Richard Clayderman Piano Competition in Taiwan.

In May 2000, Ms. Kuan toured Singapore and Taiwan as a member of BYU-H Concert Choir, acting as both a soloist and an accompanist. Sheng-Yuan has collaborated with famed musicians like Keng-Yuen Tseng, Richard Stolzman, Time for Three, Stephen Sterling, Stephen Taylor, Jesse Levine, and Patti Monson. She also made appearances at music festivals such as Bowdoin, Aria, Sarasota, Yellow Barn, Gijon Piano Festival, KUAF/Fulbright Chamber Music Festival and Norfolk Summer Music Festival. She has played in master classes conducted by Boris Berman, Philippe Bianconi, Claude Frank, Leon Fleisher, Marian Hahn, Dajin Kim, Robert Levin, Victor Rosenbaum, Seymour Lipkin, Vladimir Shakin, Susan Starr and Nelita True. As an advocate for contemporary music, Sheng-Yuan’s recent concert at the Guild Hall’s newly renovated John Drew Theater explored the interesting relationship between poetry and piano music composed by American composer, Damon Ferrante.

This season, Ms. Kuan will give concerts at the Howard Community College, Peabody Institute of Music, University of Arkansas-Fayetteville, Chamber Music by Candlelight series at the Second Presbyterian Church in Baltimore as well as venues in the New York area. Ms. Kuan is currently a candidate of the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Peabody Institute of Music. Her teachers have included Peter Frankl, Scott McCarrey and the late Constance Keene. She’s now under the guidance of Professor Boris Slutsky.

鋼琴家官聖媛來自台北市，在指導老師包括林百合，劉本莊，郭素岑，陳蓉慧和蔡采秀老師們。 1999年赴美深造以來，頻繁演出室內樂，致力於多元化音樂表演及提倡廣泛現代音樂。 聖媛曾與美國知名單簧管演奏家 Richard Stolzman在Norfolk音樂節首演芬蘭作曲家Rautavaara 的單簧管協奏曲室內樂編製版, 並與著名中提琴家今井信子 (Nobuko Imai) 及美國巴爾的摩交響樂團 (Baltimore Symphony Orchestra) 樂手合作室內樂演出，另也在海飛茲，Yellow Barn，Sarasota，Gijon等音樂節，卡內基演奏廳，甘迺迪中心，新加坡維多利亞廳和國家音樂廳演出過。  聖媛榮獲多項獎項，包括美國夏威夷楊百翰大學 (Brigham Young University-Hawaii)  協奏曲優勝，Honolulu Morning Music Club 獎學金，紐約Kosciuszko Chopin Piano Competition 第三名 (2003)，耶魯大學 Elizabeth Parisot Award 和室內樂音樂會選拔優勝，琵琶第音樂院 (Peabody Institute) 室內樂獎，Career Development Grant 和伴奏助教獎學金，Corpus Christi International Competition for Piano and Strings 鋼琴比賽第二名 (2008)，國際台北蕭邦鋼琴大賽第三名 (2008)，及維也納貝多芬國際鋼琴比賽 “最佳女鋼琴家” 獎 (2009)。