Bio

Nora Chiang is a concert pianist and piano instructor whose artistry, professionalism, and past distinctions attest to her stellar qualifications as a performer and teacher. Nora’s playing today is brilliantly virtuosic with an ease of execution and her powerful interpretations are genuinely inspired. Nora is also a passionately dedicated teacher and consequently highly sought after as a piano teacher.

Nora began her own piano studies with her mother at the age of four after which she studied with Marion Peterson, graduate of the Eastman School of Music, who ultimately prepared her for her entrance into the pre-college division of the Juilliard School of Music. After a rigorous screening process, the thirteen-year-old Nora was awarded a five-year scholarship to study with Leonard Eisner at the pre-college division of Juilliard. At the age of fourteen, she gave her solo debut performance in Lincoln Center of New York City. She has since performed nationally and internationally (in Canada and China) as a solo and chamber musician to resounding acclaim. After her studies at Juilliard, she continued to win scholarships at the Eastman School of Music and the University of Southern California where she received a Bachelor of Music and a Master of Music respectively. She was also a graduate candidate at New England Conservatory for two years. Nora has participated in the Banff Music Center in Canada, the Music Academy of the West, and the Round Top Festival in Texas and has collaborated with instrumental professors from the Beijing Conservatory in China. She is also a lifelong member of Pi Kappa Lambda, a national music honors society of music curriculum graduates who have achieved the highest standard of academic excellence.

Nora has studied solo and chamber music under world-renowned musicians. Her primary piano instructors include Leonard Shure, Barry Snyder, Norman Krieger, Eleanor Brancart and Leonard Eisner. She has studied in master-class under Claude Franck, Gyorgy Sebok and Jerome Lowenthal. Among some of her chamber music coaches are cellists Bernard Greenhouse (formerly of the Beaux Arts Trio), Colin Karr, Larry Lesser, violists Michael Tree (formerly of the Guarnieri Quartet), Walter Trembly, Donald McInnes and all four former members of the Cleveland Quartet: Donald Weilerstein, Peter Salaff, Atar Arad and Paul Katz. Vocal coaches under whom Nora has studied include Jan DeGaetani, John Maloy, Tom Paul and Marcia Baldwin.

TEACHING

Nora has, since her teaching career began in 1986, developed a mentoring style of teaching, which is both highly disciplined and individually modeled to the needs of each student. Her teaching is both thoughtful and intelligent and she has the acute ability to examine and offer solutions to core problem areas in each student. She has taught students ages five to sixty-five, from the beginning to the advanced levels with much success. She conducts student recitals and theory and ear-training workshops regularly for her students in addition to their individual piano studies. Nora is currently an active member of the Music Teacher’s Association of California and the Music Teacher’s National Association, two of the most prestigious and influential music teacher’s associations in the country.

Nora also teaches piano at Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California.

CURRENT ACTIVITIES

After moving to Southern California in 1996, Nora has taught at the South Bay Conservatory and at Musical Beginnings Music Academy, has worked as an accompanist for the University of Southern California, Santa Monica College, El Camino College and Cerritos College. She continues to perform extensively, has collaborated with musicians from the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and the Colburn School and has produced two solo CD’s. She currently teaches at Santa Monica College and runs a piano studio in West Los Angeles, California.