Curtis at Woodmere Art Museum

Tianyou Ma, from Shenzhen, China, entered the Curtis Institute of Music in 2019 and studies violin with Shmuel Ashkenasi and Pamela Frank. All students at Curtis receive merit-based, full-tuition scholarships, and Mr. Ma is the Dorothy Richard Starling Foundation Fellow.

Mr. Ma has been a top prize winner in numerous prestigious international competitions, including the Sendai International Music Competition, The Menuhin International Violin Competition (also the recipient of the Bach Prize), the J.S. Bach competition, the Postacchini Competition and the Chicago Violin Competition both in the USA.

Mr. Ma has been a single-study student at the Elder Conservatorie of Music in Adelaide, Australia, since 2010, where he was awarded a full scholarship to study with Keith Crellin from 2010-2013. Since 2014, he has been awarded a full scholarship at The Yehudi Menuhin School in the U.K. and studied violin with Diana Galvydyte. He was also awarded a full scholarship covering all his living fees from the Music and Dance Scheme in the U.K. from 2016 – 2019. Mr. Ma started his undergraduate study with a full scholarship at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia in August 2019, studying with Pamela Frank and Shmuel Ashkenasi.

Mr. Ma has performed as a soloist with orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra, Webern Kammerphilharmonie, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, London Doctors’ Orchestra, Adelaide Youth Orchestra, and Yehudi Menuhin School Orchestra. He has performed as a soloist and a chamber musician in many European countries, Asia, the USA, and Oceania. He has spent his summers studying at the Verbier Festival Academy and International Summer Academy (Internationale Sommerakademie der mdw).

Tianyou Ma plays a 1684 Andrea Guarneri on a generous loan from the Curtis Institute of Music.

Avery Gagliano, from Washington, D.C., entered the Curtis Institute of Music in 2016 and studies piano with Robert McDonald. All students at Curtis receive merit-based, full-tuition scholarships, and Ms. Gagliano is the Dr. Samuel R. and Mrs. Beatrice S. Rossman Fellow. 

A 21-year-old pianist, Ms. Gagliano gained international attention as the first prize and best concerto prize winner of the 2020 National Chopin Piano Competition and as the only American semifinalist at the 2021 International Chopin Piano Competition. She recently made her Carnegie Hall debut and released her debut album Reflections on the Steinway & Sons label. 

Ms. Gagliano’s performance highlights include appearances at world-renowned stages such as the Verbier Festival, Gilmore Festival, Bravo! Vail Festival, Ravinia Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Swiss Alps Classics Festival, Carnegie Hall, Warsaw Philharmonic Hall, Cavatina Hall, Louis Vuitton Foundation, Salle Cortot, and WQXR Greene Space. 

Ms. Gagliano has performed as a soloist with orchestras throughout the United States, including the Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra, Tuscarawas Philharmonic, MostArts Festival Orchestra, Oregon Mozart Players, the Bravura Philharmonic Orchestra, and Symphony in C. A passionate chamber musician, she regularly collaborates with ensembles, most recently sharing the stage with the Balourdet Quartet at Bravo! Vail. She also frequently performs as a guest artist with the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players in New York. 

Ms. Gagliano received the audience prize at the 2019 Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition and was the winner of the Aspen Music Festival Concerto Competition, the MostArts Festival Piano Competition, and the 2019 National YoungArts Competition. She is an alumna of the Verbier Festival and Academy, Gstaad Piano Academy, and the Lang Lang International Music Foundation’s Young Scholars Program. Ms. Gagliano is four-year winner of the U.S. Chopin Foundation Scholarship and has made several appearances on Philadelphia’s WRTI radio and National Public Radio’s (NPR) From The Top. 

This season, at the invitation of Sir András Schiff, she joins the Building Bridges concert series and appears in recitals throughout Europe. She also makes her debut with the Maryland Symphony Orchestra, Fort Collins Symphony, and Avanti Orchestra. 

Among Ms. Gagliano’s previous teachers are Gary Graffman, Jonathan Biss, and Marina Alekseyeva.  

Zhu Wang, from Hunan Province, China, entered the Curtis Institute of Music in 2020 and studies piano with Robert McDonald. All students at Curtis receive merit-based, full-tuition scholarships, and Mr. Wang is the Anderson and Daria Pew Fellow. 

Winner of the 2020 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, he was awarded the Stern Young Artist Development Award, supported by the Linda and Isaac Stern Charitable Foundation. Among his many other awards, Mr. Wang has been the first-prize winner of the Zhuhai International Mozart Competition for Young Musicians, Manhattan International Music Competition, Hilton Head International Young Artist Piano Competition, Music Academy of the West Solo Piano Competition, PianoTexas Concerto Competition, and Juilliard’s Gina Bachauer International Scholarship Piano Competition.  

Mr. Wang has performed at many prestigious venues including the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Kammermusiksaal of the Berliner Philharmonie, Warsaw Philharmonic Concert Hall, and Shanghai Concert Hall. Since his orchestral debut at age fourteen with the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, where he performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21, he has soloed with Salzburg Chamber Soloists, Zermatt Festival Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, Brunensis Virtuosi Orchestra, San Juan Symphony, and Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra. 

As an avid chamber musician and new music advocate, Mr. Wang has performed with Orion String Quartet, Ida Kavafian, Anne-Marie McDermott, Wu Han, and Colin Carr and has given concerts for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Mr. Wang has world premiered Timo Andres’s Moving Études (2017) and Nina Shekhar’s Vocalise (2021). He has appeared in music festivals such as Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, Bravo! Vail Music Festival, Kneisel Hall, Four Seasons Chamber Music Workshop, International Piano Academy Lake Como, Shanghai International Piano Festival, Perlman Music Program and Music Academy of the West. 

This season’s highlights include a solo recital debut in Germany at Usedomer Musikfestival, a concert at Morgan Library in New York City, a world premiere performance of Steven Banks’s work for solo piano, Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto with Columbus Symphony Orchestra, and appearances with violinist Randall Goosby for the Vancouver Recital Society and Philadelphia Chamber Music Society.  

Mr. Wang began learning piano at age five when he trained at the Music Middle School Affiliated with Shanghai Conservatory of Music with Zhe Tang and Fou Ts’ong. He continued his study at the Juilliard School for his Bachelor of Music degree, where he received the Gina Bachauer and Mieczyslaw Munz Scholarship.