Piano Masterclass with Lei Weng

Steinway Artist Dr Lei Weng enjoys a successful international career as an accomplished pianist, a dedicated teacher, and a sought-after adjudicator and clinician. Hailed as “a colorist of exemplary control” by the New York Concert Review for his sold-out Carnegie Hall debut, he has performed at prestigious venues around the world, including New York’s Carnegie Hall, Chicago Culture Center, Phillips Collection (Washington DC), China National Center for Performing Arts, Taiwan National Concert Hall, Banff Center (Canada), Peterskirche (Vienna), Basilica di San Pietro (Italy), Royal College of Music (U.K.), and Singapore National University. He has performed at such renowned music festivals as Tanglewood Music Festival, Cliburn Institute/PianoTexas International Festival, Messiaen Festival (University of Chicago), MusicFest Perugia (Italy), Pianoforte-Fest Meissen (Germany), Sarasota Festival, Rocky Ridge Music Center and Breckenridge Music Festival.

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As a frequent concerto soloist, he has appeared with such conductors as Gerhardt Zimmerman, James Levin, Steven Smith, Uri Segal, Robert Olson, Geoffrey Simon, Glen Cortese, Wes Kenney, Lingfen Wu and with more than forty orchestras in the Americas, Europe, and Asia, including the Symphony Orchestras of Fort Worth, Fort Collins, Gimhae (Korea), Kaohsiung (Taiwan), Alicante (Spain), Perugia (Italy), Campinas (Brazil), Beijing (China), Costa Rica, the Czech Opera House Orchestra and China National Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.

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As an avid chamber music performer, he has performed with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Concertmaster Noah Bendix-Balgley, Chicago Symphony Orchestra Associate Concertmaster Stephanie Jeong, Dallas Symphony Orchestra Concertmaster Nathan Olson, Naumburg Competition Winner cellist David Requiro and members of the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra and Boston Symphony. He has also worked closely and performed with such eminent musicians as Jerome Lowenthal, James Levine, Emmanuel Ax, Cho-Liang Lin, Pamela Frank, James Tocco, Dawn Upshaw and Lucy Shelton.

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A dedicated educator, Dr Weng is the Professor of Piano and Keyboard Area Head at the University of Northern Colorado. He was the recipient of the 2015 College of Performing and Visual Arts Scholar of the Year. He has been frequently invited as guest professor by conservatories and universities around the world, including the Royal College of Music (UK), Conservatoire de Versailles (France), University of Saarbrücken (Germany), China Central Conservatory, Shanghai Conservatory, Singapore National University, Taiwan National Normal University and the universities of Boston, Cincinnati, Texas and Colorado. His students have won top prizes in numerous national and international competitions. They have been admitted to such top schools as Julliard School, Eastman School of Music, Peabody Institute of Music, Cleveland Institute of Music, New England Conservatory, University of Cincinnati, Oberlin Conservatory and Manhattan School of Music.

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As a frequent jury member of national and international competitions, Dr Weng has been invited to serve in jury panels of the Cleveland International Piano Competition, International Rachmaninoff Piano Competition (Moscow), Beethoven Piano Competition (UK), Hong Kong International Music Competition, “Nuova Coppa Pianisti” International Piano Competition (Italy), China National Piano Competition, “Parnassus” Piano Competition (Mexico), “Concurso Internacional de María Clara Cullell” (Costa Rica), and MTNA Competitions. In addition, he has served as the Chairman of Mu Phi Epsilon Foundation Keyboard Scholarships since 2012.

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Dr Weng is the Founder and Director of the Colorado International Piano Academy & Festival, an intensive piano program that takes place at UNC in the summer.

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Dr Weng holds degrees of BM from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, MM and DMA from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. His primary teachers include Frank Weinstock, William Black, Claude Frank, Jerome Lowenthal, Zhou Guangren, Guo Zhihong and Xie Yuan.