Dr. Yu Xi Wang

Pianist Yu Xi Wang made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2002 as the winner of the Artist International Competition. She released her debut CD in China the following year. Since then, her performances have taken her to many cities in the United States and her native country China. She has particular interests in performing in unconventional venues. Highlights include an all-Chopin recital at World Financial Center’s Winter Garden in 2010 (presented by Piano Culture for Chopin’s bicentennial celebration) and appearance at Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center as part of 2013 Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts (PIFA) event. Most recently, she appeared in two recitals at the Kislak Center – an intimate venue within the Van Pelt Library of the University of Pennsylvania..

Yu Xi has been faculty at Curtis Institute of Music since 2013 and is currently the director of Keyboard Studies. Prior to her appointment at Curtis, she was faculty at The Juilliard School and Music Institute of Chicago, where she covered a variety of subjects including Piano Literature, Piano Topics, and Solfège. She has also taught piano at Settlement Music School, Saint Joseph’s University, and Philadelphia International Music Festival. In addition, she is presently a teaching affiliate at the University of Pennsylvania, serving as piano instructor and in-class performance coach.

Yu Xi is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where she received her Bachelor of Music, Master of Music, and Doctor of Musical Arts in piano performance under the tutelage of Herbert Stessin, Jerome Lowenthal, and Julian Martin.

Dr. Koji Attwood

“Picture Liszt’s extravagant concerts–theatrical, virtuosic, full of music to show the expansive horizons of the piano–and the pianist.  No fawn gloves in Koji Attwood’s appearance onstage, but Liszt’s spirit lives.”

–H. Daniel Webster, Philadelphia Inquirer

Koji Attwood, a Kansas native, made his solo debut at the age of ten, and one year later won 2nd prize at the Young Keyboard Artists International Competition.  He earned 2nd prize at both the Stravinsky and Missouri Southern International Keyboard competitions, and was a participant in the International William Kapell Keyboard and the Hamamatsu International Piano competitions.  He received honorable mention at the VII International Web Concert Hall Competition, which entitled him to a performance that will continue to be broadcast on the internet, via the Web Concert Hall Artist Series, over the next seven years.  Koji was also a winner of Astral Artistic Services’ 2003 International Auditions, and was the featured artist on yamahamusicsoft.com’s  “New York City Rising Star” series.

Mr.  Attwood has performed numerous solo recitals across much of the country, including concerts in Steinway Hall, Lincoln Center, and on the Kosciuszko Foundation Concert Series.  He appeared regularly on the “World of the Piano” series at the Julliard School and was frequently heard on a weekly radio show on New York’s WQXR, hosted by David Dubal entitled “Reflections From the Keyboard: the Pianist in Comparative Performance” and currently on Dubal’s new show, “The Piano Matters” on WWFM.

Committed to the performance of contemporary music, Mr. Attwood has given world premiere performances of works by Cynthia Folio, Hector Martinez Morales, and Daniel Ott.  Also active in chamber music, Mr. Attwood has performed with members of the Borromeo, St. Lawrence, Koryo, and Enso quartets, and is a regular collaborator with Mikhail Baryshnikov.  He performed with the dancer’s White Oak Dance Project, and partnered with Mr. Baryshnikov for his 2002-3 solo tour of the United States–providing solo interludes as well as accompaniment for the dances–garnering praise for being a “phenomenal pianist” [Binghamton Press &Sun-Bulletin], ” beautifully nuanced” [Cleveland Plain Dealer], “enchanting”  [Santa Barbara News Press], “wonderful pianist” [Seattle Times], “Koji Attwood…is a pianist of rare
gifts, both as a solo artist and as a collaborator.  Playing solo pieces of Scriabin, Scarlatti, Liszt and Soler, this young pianist was much more than fill.  He is a concert pianist with an impeccable technique, a rich tone, and an assured sense of good interpretive taste” [Nevada-Events], and described by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune: “Koji Attwood percolated rapturously…they (Baryshnikov and Attwood) displayed lovely chemistry in a performance full of virtuosity, and humor,whimsy and seriousness.  Their coordination was so tight that it sometimes seemed as though the dancer’s limbs were attached to the musician’s notes.”;  Mr. Attwood has also performed throughout the United States and in Europe with the Mark Morris Dance Group, Wally Cardona Quartet, and C. Eule Dance.  In May and June 2010 he joined the American Ballet Theatre for eight sold-out all-Chopin performances at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City, playing in the company’s critically lauded premiere of the John Neumeier ballet Lady of the Camellias, and was invited back the following year for seven repeat performances.

Mr. Attwood’s recent performances include a highly acclaimed recital at Merkin Hall in New York City, a European debut at the prestigious Husum festival in Germany, debut in Canada, performing in Montreal at the Theatre Outremont, and invitation by the Fondation Cziffra to perform at the Chapelle Royale Saint-Frambourg in France.  He is featured, along with pianists Marc-Andre Hamelin, Lev Vinacour, and Daniel Berman on the 2009 “Rarities of Piano” Danacord release, and as an avid transcriber, has over twenty arrangements to his credit.

Prior to receiving a Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Seymour Lipkin, Koji studied at the University of Kansas with Richard Angeletti.  He then went on to earn a Master of Music and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Julliard School, under the tutelage of Jerome Lowenthal.  Mr. Attwood currently serves on the faculty of the Gifted Music School, in Salt Lake City, Utah, and is a Visiting Associate Professor of piano at the University of Utah.  Koji is a Yamaha Artist.

For more info, please visit: