Please join us for a special performance by Steinway Artist Agnes Wan at Schmitt Music Kansas City on Friday, March 15 at 6PM – FREE CONCERT!
“Ms. Wan put her all into a substantial program that she clearly knew down to each millisecond … Her steadiness was remarkable … the greatness of the music shone through. … Ms. Wan’s joy in music making was infectious.”
– Rorianne Schrade, New York Concert Review
Dr. Wan’s program at Schmitt Music will include works by Liszt, Rachmaninov, Guastavino, Confrey, Bolcom, and Gershwin.
Seating is limited, so please reserve your spot today. Call 913-663-4756 or email us at kckb@schmittmusic.com to RSVP.
Watch Dr. Agnes Wan perform “Gavotte with Variations in A Minor” by Jean Philippe Rameau:
Dr. Agnes Wan
Praised as a “big pianist, big musician, big potential” with “compelling artistry that draws the listeners in and envelops them with musical joy,” pianist Ho Yan Agnes Wan’s notable past engagements included a recital on the “Pianists of the World” series at the prestigious St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London, United Kingdom and the season kick-off on the SPG Live! Concert Series at the Steinway Piano Gallery of Charlotte, where she performed on the legendary Horowitz piano (CD 503) as part of the piano’s Piedmont Region Tour.
An active piano recitalist, she has garnered awards at a few competitions, most notably the Artist International Debut Auditions and the Los Angeles Liszt International Piano Competition. She was the only solo pianist selected into the final round of the 2012 International Web Concert Hall Competition, and has given solo recitals in fifteen states, Washington D. C., France, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Hong Kong. In a recent recital review published by the Classical Voice of North Carolina, critic Chelsea Huber wrote, “perhaps the best thing about watching her perform is the joy she exudes while playing. Wan has a sort of quiet intensity that manifests itself regardless of the mood set by the music … Wan performed the music with feeling that involved every fiber of her being,” Her debut compact disc recording, “Robert Schumann: Romance at the Piano,” released on Soundset Recordings label in late 2012, received critical acclaim from music critic Jerry Dubins (with the Fanfare Magazine): “… Wan plays these Schumann pieces as expressively and poetically as anyone I’ve heard, always placing her technical mastery at the service of Schumann’s ever-inventive musical imagination.”
As a clinician, Agnes Wan has been an active adjudicator at many youth piano competitions, and frequently gives masterclasses to talented young students at various Steinway facilities and a number of fine arts high schools. She has also given masterclasses at the Community College of Baltimore County, McNeese State University, Tennessee Technological University, and the University of Montevallo, to name a few. As a presenter, she has appeared at the state-level Music Teachers Association conferences in Alabama, Indiana, Texas, and North Carolina, in addition to numerous workshops for local-level associations.. Her Book, “Physical and Mental Issues in Piano Performance: The Interrelationships between Physical Tension, Performance Anxiety, and Memorization Strategies,” released by VDM-Verlag in 2008, has reportedly been recommended as a reference book for piano pedagogy courses at a few universities. Her scholarly articles have been published by the peer-reviewed journal, American Music Teacher.
Agnes Wan holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Iowa and an Artist Diploma from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She also obtained her bachelor of music (hons.) degree and double master’s degrees in music therapy and piano performance at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and Loyola University New Orleans respectively. Her teachers have included Gabriel Kwok, Nancy Loo, Jac McCracken, Uriel Tsachor, James Tocco, and Michael Chertock. Having previously taught at Vanderbilt University and Chowan University, Wan is currently an Assistant Professor of Piano at Virginia State University. She also serves as an Adjunct Lecturer of Applied Music (Piano) at the College of William and Mary. In September 2013, she was invited to join the roster of Steinway Artist, an honorable designation she has since held.
Learn more on her website at agnes-wan.net.
