Saturday, March 27, 2021| 3:00 PM VIRTUAL PERFORMANCE

Constance Keene Precollege Piano Scholarship Recital

Jiayang Jin, Piano Zoe Pian-Chowdhury, Piano Student of Tatiana Goncharova Student of Solomon Mikowsky

FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN Nocturne in D-flat Major, Op. 27, No. 2 (1810-1849)

FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN Ballade No. 3 in A-flat Major, Op. 47

PIERRE SANCAN Toccata (1916-2008)

Jiayang Jin, Piano

JOAQUÍN RODRIGO Sonata No. 1 in F-sharp Minor from 5 Sonatas de Castilla (1901–1999)

FRANZ SCHUBERT Sonata in A Major, D. 664, Posth. 120 (1797-1828) I. Allegro moderato

JOHANN NEPOMUK HUMMEL Rondo in E-flat Major, Op. 11 (1778-1837)

KAROL SZYMANOWSKI Twenty Mazurkas, Op. 50 (1882–1937) I. Sostenuto. Molto rubato. XIV. Animato z elegancja i grandezza

ISAAC ALBÉNIZ Iberia, Book I (1860–1909) II. El Puerto

Zoe Pian-Chowdhury, Piano

The Constance Keene Precollege Piano Scholarship is awarded annually to gifted young pianists studying in the Precollege Division at Manhattan School of Music. This scholarship was established to honor the dedication and inspired teaching of Constance Keene, and was created by her friends, family, and past students.

A recent finalist of the Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Competition, Jiayang Jin has won the gold award in many youth piano competitions, including the 7th International Youth Cultural and Art Festival (2015), Rondo (2016), Crescendo (2017), National Young Maestro (2018), Elite International (2019), Golden Classical (2019) and Vivo (2019), and debuted prestigious stages such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, 92Y, Merkin Hall, Steinway Hall and the DiMenna Center. He was also a finalist of the 4th Gershwin International Piano Competition (2019). As the winner of the 2016 International Shining Stars Debuts, Jiayang performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.11 in F Major with the New York Concerti Sinfonietta, his first appearance with an orchestra.

Jiayang had his first solo recital at the age of seven in New York City, followed by recitals at the historic Steinway Hall in Nanjing (2015 & 2017), the Artig Piano Center in Nanjing (2016), the Pearl River Kayserburg Piano Center in Jiaxing (2019) and the 92Y in New York City (2020). Apart from solo piano, Jiayang also plays chamber music, composes, participates in chorus, and accompanies vocalists. His chamber group was honored as one of the Annual Young Ensembles by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in May 2019. His composition “Nemasani’s Song” was selected to be the theme of his school’s theatre production “Anon(ymous)” in April 2019.

Born in Shanghai, China in 2005, Jiayang Jin began studying piano at the age of five after he moved to New York City, and was admitted to the Precollege Division of MSM at the age of eight. Currently a student of Tatiana Goncharova, Jiayang has also studied with Michael Eingorn, Ruth Kwan and Yegor Shevtsov, and been selected to master classes with renowned musicians such as Seymour Bernstein and Robert Levin. He attended the Manhattan in the Mountains Music Festival in the summer of 2019.

A current 10th grader at Hunter College High School, Jiayang excels academically, shines in art, soccer and track, and actively participates in community service through music. He has performed nearly 20 virtual recitals for homebound elders during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jiayang was awarded the Carl Owen Memorial Scholarship of the Precollege Division of MSM in 2019, and has been consecutively honored on the MSM Precollege Dean’s List for his outstanding academic and musical achievements.

Zoe Pian-Chowdhury, 17, is a current senior at Hunter College High School and studies Classical Piano under Dr. Solomon Mikowsky in the Manhattan School of Music Precollege Division.

A native to New York City, her first exposure to music came in the form of local concerts and ballets which she attended with family. She began her musical studies at the Diller- Quaile School of Music, taking beginner piano lessons under Mr. Mallory Miller at age 4. She auditioned and was accepted to study at MSM under Dr. Kariné Poghosyan at age 7, and began studying with Dr. Solomon Mikowsky at age 14. She chose to continue studying as a MSM Precollege student not only for the high level of learning, but also because of its role in shaping her as an individual, introducing her to the larger community of musicians outside of the school, and facilitating her pursuit of sharing her passion for music with others.

Outside of MSM, Zoe volunteers to teach weekly keyboard lessons to people with disabilities, performs regularly in nursing homes, works with children in hospitals to write songs, and mentors younger students at Hunter College High School. Her favorite subjects are Biology, English, and French. She further pursued her interest in science by working as an intern in the Melendez Lab at Hunter College, contributing to research on potential novel treatments for multiple sclerosis, and was acknowledged in the 2020 publication by Domingues et al.:“Pushing myelination–developmental regulation of myosin expression drives oligodendrocyte morphological differentiation” (Journal of Cell Science, August 2020). Zoe also participates in her school’s highly selective Science Research Seminar and was nominated for the Broadcom MASTERS national science competition for an independent research project on sound absorption in 2017. She was named a national laureate in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 for winning platinum and gold medals in the AATF National French Competition.

Since studying at MSM, Zoe has performed in several festivals and competitions, appearing in Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, and Ehrbar Saal in Vienna. She participated in the 2014 Armenian Youth Festival, the 2016 European Music Institute of Vienna Summer Academy master class cycle, the 2016 Golden Key Festival, and the Vienna International Pianists festival in 2017. She won first prize in her division in the 2017 International Grande Music Competition, and the Pauline Styler Award in the 2019 Piano Teachers Congress Honors Program. Additionally, her piano trio from Hunter College High School was selected by the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society and performed in the Inaugural New York City Regional Young Musicians Concert in February of 2019.