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Valentina Wen-Ting Huang, piano
Prize Winner of the National Young Talents Competitions in Taiwan, Scholarship Awards in Vienna, Chesapeake Chamber Music Competition in the US, recipient of the National Excellence Award for Young Artistic Talents in Taiwan, the Ministry of Science and Research in Austria, and featured by The Artists Association in Paris, Dr. Huang’s musical upbringing embraced a wide range of international influences and exposure. The countries she has traveled to and performed in crossed from Taiwan, Japan, Austria, France, and Germany to the United States. Dr. Huang performed as a soloist, collaborative pianist, and chamber musician; for the latter, she was immensely influenced and mentored by the pianist and founder of the legendary Beaux Arts Trio, Menahem Pressler. Dr. Huang was the founder and pianist of the Moirae Piano Trio and joined the Felici Trio, an ensemble-in-residence in Mammoth Lakes, and co-directed the Mammoth Lakes Festival before settling down in Southern California. The multi-faceted cultural influences and experiences with art forms led Dr. Huang to studies in composition, ethnomusicology, music theory, and art history besides piano performance. Dr. Huang’s primary piano teachers include Robert Scholz, Noel Flores, Germaine Mounier, and Menahem Pressler; she also worked in the masterclasses with Jörg Demus, Norman Shetler, Jean Micault, Jacob Lateiner, and Alicia de Larrocha.
Dr. Huang is a passionate advocate for wholistic musical training encompassing piano techniques integrating anatomic awareness, musical stylistic studies, and compositional analytical approaches within social historical context. Her students are laureates at the regional and national piano competitions, SYMF, SCJBF, Glendale Piano Competition, Satori Young Pianist Contest, and American Protégé Competition. Dr. Huang serves as a clinician for festivals, masterclasses, and competitions at the regional and national music teachers’ associations and chamber music programs, MTAC, MTNA, SCJBF, and SYM, to name a few in California.
As a fervent promoter for chamber music, Dr. Huang frequently performs in chamber concerts. The artists she has collaborated with include musicians from the LA Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Long Beach Symphony Orchestra, Redlands Symphony Orchestra, Pasadena Symphony Orchestra, and Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as with faculty from Colburn School, USC, Arizona State University, University of Colorado-Boulder, Indiana University, and Chinese Culture University Taiwan.
Dr. Huang received her Doctor of Music in Piano Performance from Indiana University Bloomington under Menahem Pressler and her MM and BM degree in Piano Performance from Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst Vienna, Austria. Dr. Huang directs the Keyboard Studies, Collaborative and Piano Ensemble, and piano chamber music programs at California State University, San Bernardino, and serves as Assistant Adjunct Professor at Pasadena City College. She chairs the Inland Empire branch of Junior Chamber Music with which she went on an international tour to Germany in summer 2022.
Her recent achievements include receiving Top Teacher Award of Steinway Piano Gallery Pasadena 2024, performing at the Steinway Teacher Appreciation Luncheon in January, Beethoven Triple Concerto performance with IVC Symphony Orchestra in March, and Zephyra Trio concert performance at the Nixon Library Sunday Concert Series in May. In summer 2024, she gave a concert tour in Taiwan with Zephyra Trio which was enthusiastically received and reviewed. The trio will perform at the National Concert Halls in Taipei and in Taichung, Taiwan, in December 2025. Dr. Huang is invited to be on the judge panel for Indonesian Steinway Youth Piano Competition 2024-2025.