Pianist Menghua Lin, a native of Taiwan, began her piano studies at the age of four. Winner of Pittsburgh Concert Society, Steinway Society West Pennsylvania, PTMA Piano Competition, Chautauqua Music Festival Concerto Competition and YAMAHA Piano Competition, she also holds a DMA degree in piano performance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her principal teachers include Ian Hobson, Nina Svetlanova, Hanna Li, and Pan-An Chen. She also holds a Doctor of Musical Arts, Piano Performance and Literature from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Studied with Ian Hobson, 1st prize winner of Leeds International Piano Competition), a Master of Music, Piano Performance from Carnegie Mellon University (Studied with Hanna Wu Li, recipient of the Presidential Scholar’s Distinguished Teacher Award from the White House), and Professional Studies, Piano Performance from the Manhattan School of Music (Studied with Nina Svetlanova, pupil of Heinrich Neuhaus).
Dr. Lin has performed in Asia, Europe, and the United States of America. She appeared as a recitalist and soloist at Suolahti Music Festival (Finland), Amalfi Music and Art Festival (Italy), Music Fest Perugia (Italy), Prague International Master Classes (Czech Republic), TCU / Cliburn Piano Institute Young Artist Program (USA), and Chautauqua Music Festival (USA). In 2005, she was featured in J.S. Bach’s Keyboard Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052 with Carnegie Mellon Baroque Ensemble. In 2007, she performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto in A major,K. 488 with the Perugia Fest Orchestra in Basilica of San Francesco d’Assisi, Italy. In the follow year, she returned to Italy and performed in the Young Artist Series of Amalfi Coast Music and Art Festival. In 2009, she was invited by AACMM- Associação Amigos do Conservatório de Música da Madeira and presented a solo recital in Funchal, Portugal. In 2014, she performed Lowell Liebermann’s all three Piano Sonatas at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and was invited to give a lecture at Composer’s Forums. In 2016, she was invited to give a masterclass and a recital at Eastern Illinois University Music Department. Her playing has been recorded and played on WQED in Pittsburgh, RTHK (Radio Television Hong Kong) Radio 4, and WBLV (Blue Lake Public Radio).
Equally skillful as a chamber musician and collaborative pianist, Dr. Lin has performed with various ensembles. From 2004 to 2006, she performed as an orchestra pianist in both Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic and Chautauqua Music School Festival Orchestra. In 2005, she performed Poulenc’s Sextet for Piano and Wind Quintet in Chautauqua Music Festival. In 2006, she performed Korean composer Bomi Jang’s Trio for Violin, Clarinet, and Piano at Carnegie Mellon University. In 2012, as a member of Ponto Triplo, she collaborated with choreographer and digital media artist in Teatro Municipal Baltazar Dias in Portugal. In 2015, she joined COLAB ensemble, a collaborative laboratory for music, dance, and engineering, as an improvisational musician. In 2016, she was invited to perform Prokofiev’s ‘Ode to the End of the War’ with Carnegie Mellon Wind Ensemble. In 2014, Dr. Lin formed “Kalbrenner Duo” with with Canadian scholar-performer, Dr. Sonia Lee, and gives concerts regularly. Besides, she has been collaborated with flutist, Dr. Chin-Fei Chan since 2015 and performs actively.
Dr. Lin is currently piano faculty at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, Vice President at Fortnightly Music Club, and member of MTAC Palo Alto branch. She was former piano faculty at the Pre-College Division at Carnegie Mellon University. In July 2018, she gave her solo debut at National Concert Hall in Taipei, Taiwan. In fall 2018, she was invited to give the opening concert in Friday Afternoon Series in Chatham University in Pittsburgh, as well as to perform in Fortnightly Music Club Soirée Musicale concerts in Bay Area.
