Georgetown, Penang
“Playing a Steinway is like conducting a magnificent orchestra at the fingertips, where every key resonates with unparalleled artistry and brilliance.”
Dr. Esther Shin Chuang, an acclaimed international pianist, has given concerts on four continents: North America, Asia, Africa, and Europe. She has shared music to audiences in the United States, Canada, Uganda, Kenya, Korea, Taiwan, Haiti, Jamaica, Malaysia, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, the UK, and Austria.
Her journey of music began when she began playing the piano at the age of four. She gave her first solo concert in the U.S. and in Korea when she was seven years old, and has continued to perform in numerous prestigious venues like New York’s Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, and Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. Her recent solo concerts include performances in the historic St. Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh, Scotland, as well as in the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series at the Chicago Cultural Center in the U.S., hosted by the International Music Foundation and broadcasted live by 98.7 WFMT (Classical Radio Station).
Dr. Chuang has also been the artistic director and pianist of an innovative, multi-sensory family-friendly piano concert called "Come Play With Me" at the 13th George Town Festival 2022 in Penang, Malaysia. This "Come Play With Me: A Piano Concert for Families" received several press releases, and was called by Kwong Wah Daily News a "one-of-a-kind lively and interesting concert designed for all ages using music, ballet, and art, pleasing to the ears as well as the eyes." In 2023, she created and performed a captivating concert-dance-theatre for families titled "The Enchanted Forest." This production made its debut at the 14th George Town Festival with raging success. Owing to overwhelming audience enthusiasm, a longer and complete rendition of the concert-dance-theatre took place in two packed performances at Penang Performing Arts Centre. The performance garnered acclaim from various press releases, praising its ingenuity and the positive environmental message it conveyed.
As the winner of the Jan and Beattie Wood Concerto Competition at the Brevard Music Festival, Dr. Chuang has performed the Liszt Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Brevard Music Center Orchestra in the Soloists of Tomorrow Concert. She has won numerous competitions including the 11th Zimmerli Piano Competition, 19th International Young Artist Competition, Associated Teachers of Music League Young Artist Competition, Baltimore Music Club Competition, and the Manchester Young Artist Competition.
Dr. Chuang has participated in the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival in Maine, U.S., Beethoven Institute in New York, U.S., Brevard Music Center in Brevard, North Carolina, U.S., the Gijon International Piano Festival in Gijon, Spain, the International Summer Academy Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, and the Aspen Music Festival and School in Aspen, Colorado, U.S., for five summers as a full scholarship recipient. In summer 2011, she was the Assistant Dean of the Brevard Music Festival and School.
Dr. Chuang studied as a scholarship student in the Pre-College Division of the Juilliard School in New York City, U.S. She earned her Bachelor of Music degree at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. She earned her Master of Music degree at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City, U.S. She earned her Doctorate of Worship Studies at Robert E. Webber Institute for Worship Studies in Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.
Dr. Esther Chuang's piano teachers include Ann Schein, Boris Slutsky, Ernest Barretta, Sandra Shen, and Un-Young Whang. Dr. Chuang is part of the grandest lineage of pianists: Dr. Chuang studied with concert pianist Ann Schein, who studied with one of the greatest pianists of all times, Arthur Rubinstein. Arthur Rubinstein studied with Karl Heinrich Barth who had been instructed by Liszt, who studied with Czerny, who had been a student of Beethoven.
Dr. Chuang has been on the faculty in the music department of the Moody Bible Institute, a University in Chicago, IL, U.S., for six years. Currently, Dr. Esther Shin Chuang and her husband Dr. Tony Chuang reside in Penang, Malaysia. Dr. Esther Shin Chuang is a lecturer of worship at Malaysia Baptist Theological Seminary, Alpha Omega International College, Bible College of Malaysia, and more. Dr. Chuang teaches piano to private students as well as in masterclasses in Universities. She has recently given a masterclass in UCSI University in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Dr. Esther Shin Chuang has recently achieved the prestigious title of Steinway Teacher, and is honored to continue the Steinway and Sons Piano Legacy in Malaysia through her music making and teaching.
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