Dr. Pei-I Wang is Coordinator of Keyboard Studies at Millikin University in Illinois, USA. Recognized for her versatile and expressive performances, Wang has presented concerts across Asia, Europe, and the United States. She performed as a featured soloist with the Illinois Symphony Chamber Orchestra, Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra, Sangamon Valley Civic Orchestra, Taiwan National Symphony Orchestra, and the University of Illinois Symphony Orchestra. Her recent performance of S. Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2 captivated the audience and was enthusiastically reviewed as “spectacular and mesmerizing.” She received awards in various competitions, such as the Liszt-Garrison International Piano Competition, the Mauro Paolo Monopoli Prize Asian Auditions, the Vivaldi International Music Competition, the UIUC Concerto Competition, the 21st-Century Piano Commission Competition with composer John Ritz, among others. Her performances have been broadcast by China Television, WILL FM, WLDS/WEA1 Radio, and Texas Public Radio. Additionally, she was named a Gilmore International Keyboard Festival Fellow and received scholarships for outstanding young musicians from leading music corporations, including Yamaha and Kawai.
As a keen advocate of contemporary music and lesser-known masterworks, Wang has performed new music at the Midwest Composers Symposium, the Electronic Music Festival at the University of Louisville, the Illinois Symphony Orchestra “Around the Town” and “Sundays at Six” Concert Series, commissioned concert series by the San Antonio Composers Alliance, and the Red Note New Music Festival, among others. She regularly performs as the Principal Keyboardist at the Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra and the Illinois Symphony Orchestra.Her recording of Carl Czerny’s four-handed piano fantasies with Dr. Sam Gingher was released in September 2020 under the NAXOS label. On a NAXOS review, Philip R Buttall praised “Pei-I Wang and Samuel Gingher are a formidable team who extract every ounce of humour, pathos, and sheer romance on an epic scale...”
Wang is an enthusiastic educator and has worked with students at all levels. Her students garner prizes in numerous competitions and scholarships, including the Hollis Prize, MDSO Concerto/Aria Competition, Illinois Symphony Youth Orchestra Concerto Competition, Talent Among Us Competition, Best of the Day of the ILMEA Solo/Ensemble Competition, Illinois Federation of Music Clubs State Competition, Illinois Symphony Orchestra Guild Scholarship Audition, Peoria Symphony Orchestra Young Artist Competition, Illinois State Music Teachers Association SOUTH Competition, Seidl & Sohn International Music Competition, Vienna Music Competition, Decatur Area Music Teachers Association Scholarship Audition, Pi Kappa Lambda Honors Audition, and other Millikin scholarships. Wang holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance and Literature and Master of Music in Vocal Coaching and Accompanying from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her doctoral thesis was awarded the Dissertation Travel Grant through a competitive campus-wide selection. This distinguished award enabled her to interview British leading composer Michael Finnissy and pianists - Dr. Ian Pace and Dr. Jonathan Powell in person. She was fortunate to study piano under the tutelage of legendary pianists and pedagogues, including Dr. Ian Hobson, Dr. Rolf-Peter Wille, and Dr. Daming Zhu, with additional accompanying study under Dennis Helmrich, organ study with Dana Robinson and Hsiang-Yu Chen, and harpsichord with Dr. Charlotte Mattax Moersch.
Wang is a frequent adjudicator, performer, clinician, presenter, and a Nationally Certified Teacher of Music (NCTM) in Piano by MTNA. She was invited to present at the state conferences of the Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky State Music Teachers Associations, and the MTNA National Conference. During the summers, she serves on the faculty of the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan, the Tunghai University International College in Taiwan, and the Millikin Piano Camp. She is a proud member of several professional organizations, such as the Music Teachers National Association, American Liszt Society, College Music Society, and the National Federation of Music Clubs. Currently, she serves as Competitions Director of the Illinois State Music Teachers Association and President of the Decatur Area Music Teachers Association.
Disciplines: Applied Piano, Class Piano, Preparatory Piano, Keyboard Accompanying/Ensemble, Survey of Piano Literature