Bang-Shyuan "Ben" Chen and Kwan Yi Ho "Kylie - Narratives in Piano Sonatas

A native of Taiwan, Bang-Shyuan Chen is a Florida-based pianist with a flourishing

career. His performances have been featured in the Ilse Newell Concert Series (Apalachicola, Florida), the Lives of the Piano series hosted by Dr. Lisa Yui (New York), the WQXR radio webcast series with David Dubal (New York), and the Stars of Tiding series presented by the O-Bank Educational Foundation (Taipei). Most recently, he performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto in A Major, K. 488 with the Florida State University Symphony Chamber Orchestra and participated in the 2024 Glocal Piano Project of the Busoni International Piano Competition.

A dedicated music educator, Chen has accumulated substantial collegiate teaching experience, encompassing studio lessons, piano literature classes, and group piano instruction. He served as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at Florida State University College of Music and as an Associate Instructor at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. His recently published doctoral treatise provides analytical insights into sophisticated works by living Soviet-era composers Mikhail Kollontay and Valery Arzoumanov, with accompanying media self-published on SoundCloud.

Chen has excelled academically, earning a prestigious merit-based scholarship for his

Bachelor of Music studies at the Manhattan School of Music. He subsequently received full

tuition waivers and stipends for his graduate studies at both Indiana University and Florida State University, earning a Master of Music from the former and a Doctor of Music from the latter. Chen’s accolades include winning the 2024 Doctoral Concerto Competition at Florida State University, the 2023 Rockwood Piano Competition, the 2023 Annual Competitive Festival for Pianists at Florida State University, and receiving an Honorable Mention in the 2016 NTD International Piano Competition. He has also been awarded the Charles & Persis Rockwood Scholarship from 2021 to 2024 and the Tallahassee Music Guild Scholarship in 2022.

Chen has had the privilege of studying with esteemed pedagogues, including Professor Mikhail Kollontay, Professor, Dr. Marc Silverman, Professor, Dr. Karen Shaw, Distinguished Professor Menahem Pressler, and Professor, Dr. Read Gainsford.

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