A piano duo of alumni from the West Virginia University Division of Music will perform Wednesday (April 16) in Morgantown.
Tean Hwa Png and Pei Sien Lim, both teachers at the University College Sedaya International (UCSI) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, will present a guest artist recital at 8:15 p.m. in the Bloch Learning and Performance Hall (Room 200A) of the Creative Arts Center. The event on WVU s Evansdale Campus is free and open to the public.
The program consists ofSonata in D majorby Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,Variations on a Theme by Mozartby Lowell Liebermann andVariations on a Theme by Haydnby Johannes Brahms.
Png is an associate professor and head of Classical Music Department at UCSI , where he teaches piano and coaches chamber music ensembles, as well as lectures in a number of specialized areas in music such as piano literature and performance practice.
A native of Malaysia, he earned a doctorate of musical arts in piano performance and literature at WVU and his masters and bachelors degrees in piano performance at Western Illinois University. Png studied with Peter Amstutz, a music professor at WVU .
In addition to his music degrees, Png also holds the Fellowship and Licentiate diplomas in piano performance from the Trinity College of Music, London, and a chemical engineering degree from the Malaya University in Kuala Lumpur.
A music teacher since 1979, he has taught a wide range of music subjects in Malaysia and in the United States. As a clinician, he has given workshops and seminars to both piano teachers and the general public. Png has also judged competitions, including the final round of the Young Persons Competition in 2006 and 2007 in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia.
In recent years, he has presented piano master classes at the Arts High School in Pécs, Hungary, and the Cantata Arts Institute in Jakarta, Indonesia, as well as the Universiti Putra Malaysia and Universiti Malaya in Kuala Lumpur.
Png has appeared in many public concert performances, including the WVU Symphony Orchestra as a winner of its Young Artist Competition.
Lim is currently a full-time lecturer at UCSI . A native of Kota Bharu, Kelantan, in Malaysia, she also earned a doctorate in piano performance at WVU , where she received scholarships and graduate assistantships throughout her studies. She was also a recipient of the Higher Education Resource Fund Top-Off Fellowship and was awarded the Outstanding Music Student Award from the WVU Music Alumni Association. She studied piano with WVU music professor James E. Miltenberger.
As a soloist, Lim has won numerous prizes, including the Pittsburgh Concert Societys 2002 Major Audition and the Music Teachers National Association Collegiate Artist Piano Competition in West Virginia. She was twice selected to be one of the concerto soloists in the WVU Young Artist Competition. In 2002, she also won the chance to be one of the piano soloists in the WVU Wind Symphony concert at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C., where she performed Oliver MessiaensOiseaux Exotiques.
As a collaborative pianist, Lim has worked with various musicians and was involved in many choral, opera and musical productions. She was invited to serve as a staff accompanist in the summer programs of the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, and Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan.