Multiple pianists to present concert at SFA

NACOGDOCHES, Texas – The School of Music at Stephen F. Austin State University will present the annual “Eight-Hands Piano Concert” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 25, in Cole Concert Hall, Wright Music Building, on the SFA campus.

SFA music faculty members Dr. Minhae Lee, assistant professor of piano, and Dr. Mario Ajero, professor of piano, will be joined by guest performers Dr. Eliza Ching, artist collaborator at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, and Dr. Hyemin Kim, collaborative pianist and piano teacher at Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, Michigan. They will perform works by William Gillock, Bedrich Smetana, Gioachino Rossini and Igor Stravinsky.

Lee joined the faculty of the School of Music in 2021. Equally at home as both a solo pianist and collaborative pianist, she has held a staff position as a collaborative pianist at the Jeju International Brass Competition, the Manhattan School of Music, the Manhattan in the Mountains Summer Festival, Michigan State University, Central Michigan State University, and the Aspen Music Festival and School as a full scholarship fellow, and she is an instrumental performance coach at AMFS. Before joining SFA, Lee was named as the only Collaborative Piano Fellow at the Yale School of Music in 2020 where she played for numerous master classes and recitals and worked closely with renowned musicians.

At SFA, Ajero teaches applied piano lessons, group piano classes and piano pedagogy and serves as the keyboard area coordinator. Internationally recognized as an authority in incorporating technology in piano pedagogy and music education, he has presented at every major piano pedagogy conference in the United States and has been invited to perform and present in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China and Germany.

Prior to her appointment at Rice in 2010, Ching was staff collaborative pianist at the University of Texas at Austin, the North Carolina School of the Arts and the Heifetz Institute. During the summers, she is collaborative piano program coordinator and coach at the Aspen Music Festival and School. Ching won the Best Collaborative Pianist Prize at the Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition, Canada, in 2012, and she performed Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major with the Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra as a winner of the concerto competition. She has also recorded the CD “Cellobration” with cellist Amit Peled, released by Centaur Records. 

Kim has a wide range of musical careers as a soloist, collaborator, chamber musician and educator. She has performed in Austria, Germany and South Korea. She has collaborated with musicians from New York Philharmonic and Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco and Lansing symphony orchestras. She also has collaborated with many music faculty members from Eastman School of Music, Manhattan School of Music, University of Colorado-Boulder, Louisiana State University, DePaul University, Interlochen Arts Academy and Prayner Conservatory, Austria.

Concert tickets are $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and $3 for students and youth. To purchase tickets, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit sfasu.edu/finearts. For additional information, contact the SFA School of Music at (936) 468-4602.