Grace Fong, D.M.A.

Praised as a "true musical colourist with enormous style and taste," an artist of "rare eloquence and grace," American pianist Grace Fong’s performances have been hailed as "positively magical." Her piano festivities have gained critical acclaim in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia, making appearances at major venues around the world, including Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Phillips Collection, Great Hall in Leeds, UK, Reinberger Hall at Severance Hall, and the Liszt Academy in Budapest, among others. Radio/television broadcasts have included British Broadcasting Company, WCLV-FM 104.9, KUSC 91.5 FM in Los Angeles, the "Emerging Young Artists" series in New York, and "Performance Today" on National Public Radio.

Performances with orchestras have included the Halle Orchestra in the United Kingdom, Music Academy of the West Festival Orchestra, the Olympia Philharmonic Orchestra, The Shreveport Symphony, the Peninsula Symphony, the Musica de Camera Orchestra, the Los Angeles Debut Orchestra, and the Chamber Orchestra of Southwest Virginia, and the New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra.

Dr. Fong is a prizewinner of numerous international competitions, including the prestigious Leeds International Piano Competition in the United Kingdom, 2007 Bosendorfer International Piano Competition, San Antonio International Piano Competition, Viardo International Piano Competition, and the Cleveland International Piano Competition.

Most recently, Dr. Fong has been named a finalist of the 2008-2009 Classical Fellowship Awards of the American Pianists Association, and has been invited to perform a series of concerts in the next season. Dr. Fong won the Grand Prize in piano from the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts and was thereafter named a "Presidential Scholar in the Arts", and was presented a medallion by former President Clinton at the White House. Other prizes include Gold Medalist for the Wideman International Piano Competition, the winner of the Music Academy of the West Concerto Competition, the winner of the Cleveland Institute of Music Concerto Competition, 1st Prize in the Los Angeles Liszt Competition and 1st Prize in the Edith Knox Performance Competition.

Dr. Fong is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music where she studied with Sergei Babayan who describes Dr. Fong as "not only a true artist and an exciting virtuoso, but a sensitive poet who can speak about the most important of subjects through the craft of her hands." During the course of her undergraduate studies at the University of Southern California, Dr. Fong completed a double major and minor; she was awarded the prestigious Renaissance Scholar Prize, and was named "The USC Thornton School of Music Keyboard Department’s — Most Outstanding Student – B.M." Former teachers include Sergei Babayan, John Perry, Louise Lepley, Paulina Drake, and Norberto Cappone.

Dr. Fong is currently the Director of Keyboard Studies at Chapman University Conservatory of Music and continues an active solo and chamber music career. An enthusiastic supporter of the education of young musicians, Dr. Fong has served as guest artist and teacher at the New Hampshire Music Festival and the first Salt Spring Piano Festival, and will be faculty at the Montecito Summer Festival 2008. Highlights in the 2008-2009 season include a debut with the Polish Chamber Orchestra, soloist with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, performances with the Biava Quartet and the Pacifica Quartet, performance at the Liszt Academy in Budapest, and performances with her piano trio, the Selvaggi Trio.