Art of Piano Concert: Joanna MacGregor, David Kaplan & Art of Piano Musicians

David Kaplan, pianist, has been called “excellent and adventurous” by The New York Times, and praised by the Boston Globe for “grace and fire” at the keyboard. As orchestra soloist, he has appeared with the Britten Sinfonia at London’s Barbican, Das Sinfonie Orchester Berlin at the Philharmonie, and with the Symphony Orchestras of Hawaii and San Antonio. As recitalist, he has performed at the Ravinia Festival, Sarasota Opera House, Music on Main in Vancouver, Strathmore, Washington’s National Gallery, and New York’s Carnegie and Merkin Halls.

Kaplan has consistently drawn critical acclaim for programs that creatively interweave classical, contemporary, and newly commissioned works. As a guest artist of Piano Spheres at Los Angeles’ Zipper Hall, he recently premiered “Quasi una Fantasia,” a program exploring the gray area between composition and improvisation through works by Anthony Cheung, Christopher Cerrone, and Andrea Casarrubios, together with Couperin, Beethoven, Schumann, Saariaho, Ligeti, and his own improvisations. Kaplan’s “New Dances of the League of David,” a recital infusing Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze with 16 new works by composers including Augusta Read Thomas, Marcos Balter, Caroline Shaw, and Andrew Norman was cited among the “Best Classical Music Performances of 2015” by The New York Times. The “New Dances” album was released in 2024 on the New Focus label, immediately garnering raves in Gramophone, Fanfare, and the Financial Times.

Balancing solo performances with meaningful collaborations, Kaplan has played with the Attacca, Ariel, Enso, Hausman, and Tesla String Quartets. As a core member of Decoda, the Affiliate Ensemble of Carnegie Hall, he performs frequently in New York’s most exciting venues, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art to National Sawdust, as well as creating innovative residencies as far away as Abu Dhabi, Mexico, and Scotland. The ensemble’s self-titled debut album was recorded at Tippet Rise Art Center, and has been nominated for a 2024 GRAMMY for the premiere recording of Valerie Coleman’s “Revelry,” originally composed for Decoda in 2018.  

He is a veteran of numerous distinguished chamber music festivals and series, such as the Seattle Chamber Music, La Jolla, Bard, and Mostly Mozart Festivals, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Chamber Music Northwest, and Barge Music. He is an alumnus of Tanglewood and the Ravinia-Steans Institute, and performs regularly as an alumnus of the Perlman Music Program, including with Itzhak Perlman at Miami’s Arsht Center. He serves as Co-Artistic Director of Lyrica Chamber Music, a community series in Morris County, NJ currently in its 36th season.

In addition to last year’s debut solo album, Kaplan has recorded for Naxos and Marquis Records, as well as for Nonesuch as part of his longstanding duo with pianist/composer Timo Andres. Performing often with his wife, flutist Catherine Gregory, the duo released “Vent” in 2023 on Bright Shiny Things, including music by Gabriela Lena Frank, David Lang, Mr. Andres, Schubert, and Prokofiev.

Kaplan was a student of the late Claude Frank, and previously studied with Walter Ponce and Miyoko Lotto. His mentors over the years have included Anton Kuerti, Richard Goode, and Emanuel Ax. He studied conducting at the Universität der Künste Berlin with Lutz Köhler, under the auspices of a Fulbright Fellowship from 2008-2010. The recipient of a DMA from Yale University in 2014, Kaplan earned his Bachelor from UCLA, where he has also served on the faculty since 2016, and now is the Associate Professor and Inaugural Shapiro Family Chair in Piano Performance.

David is proud to be a Yamaha/Bösendorfer Artist, and when at home in Los Angeles, he enjoys practicing on his childhood piano, a 1908 Hamburg Steinway model A. Away from the keyboard, he loves cartooning and cooking, and is mildly obsessed with classic cars. 

Joanna MacGregor CBE is one of the world’s most innovative musicians, appearing as a concert pianist, curator and conductor. Head of Piano at the Royal Academy of Music and Professor of University of London, Joanna MacGregor was the Artistic Director of Dartington International Summer School & Festival 2014-2019, Artistic Director of the Bath International Music Festival 2006-2012, and curated the multi-arts Deloitte Ignite Festival at the Royal Opera House, as well as Aventures+, an orchestral series for Luxembourg Philharmonie. She runs an annual Summer Piano Festival at the Royal Academy, involving over a hundred young musicians playing core repertoire as well as collaborating with composers, actors, visual artists, writers and filmmakers. Joanna has just been appointed Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Brighton Philharmonic, as it approaches its centenary.

Erica Do was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artist Award.

Born in Seoul, Korea in 2002, Yeonsoo (Erica) Do is a pianist whose artistry has been recognized through a wide range of performances and international appearances. She began her musical training at the Young Prodigy Academy of the Seoul Arts Center and graduated with highest honors from Yewon School and Seoul Arts High School, receiving the Soo-Jung Shin Scholarship.

She has won top prizes at major competitions in Korea, including the Grand Prize at the Nanpa Music Competition and First Prize at the Sungjung Music Competition, and was a laureate of the Ewha-Kyunghyang and Kukmin Ilbo Competitions. As a soloist, she has appeared with orchestras such as the Gimpo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Korean Pacific Philharmonic Orchestra.

Her international activities include performances at the Aspen Music Festival, the Amalfi Music Festival, the Frost Chopin Festival, Ishikawa Music Academy, and the Music in Pyeongchang Festival. In 2025, she received the Modern Times Prize at the Clara Haskil International Piano Competition and presented a special performance at the award ceremony. As a Yamaha Rising Artist, she performed in the Art M Concert, a social contribution project by Hyundai Pharmaceutical. She was also selected as a Kumho Young Artist and will present a solo recital at Kumho Art Hall.

Yundi Xu was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artist Award.

Praised for interpretations of “technical and artistic perfection” (Pionteks of Bayreuth), Chinese pianist Yundi Xu is recognized for her refined sound, rhythmic control, and nuanced phrasing. Admitted to the Conservatoire de Paris at fourteen, later studying at the Royal Academy of Music in London and completing the Konzertexamen at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin, she has established an international career as a soloist and chamber musician. 

She has performed with orchestras including the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Orchestra Filarmonica Pugliese, and Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra, and appeared at major venues and festivals such as the Konzerthaus in Berlin, Salle Gaveau in Paris, the Van Cliburn Concert Hall in Fort Worth, Tanglewood, Young Euro Classic, and Les Journées Ravel. 

Equally committed to contemporary music, she has premiered works by Andrew Hamilton and Nathan Shields. A prizewinner at numerous international competitions in Poland, Spain, and Portugal, she was also a quarter-finalist at the 2025 Clara Haskil Competition. Her recordings have been broadcast on radio stations Musiq3 (Belgium), Deutschlandradio, RBB Kultur, and Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln (Germany). Yundi Xu is a Young Steinway Artist.

Dane Ko was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artist Award.

Hong Kong-born Canadian pianist Dane Ko is a recitalist, chamber musician and educator active internationally. The 2025-26 season includes debuts at Montreal International Bach Festival, Chapelle Historique du Bon-Pasteur, Algoma Conservatory Concerts and the Gilmore International Piano Festival as a Gilmore Festival Fellow.

As soloist, Dane has performed in France, Austria, Italy, Hong Kong, Macau, Canada and the US. Dane is a prizewinner at Prix Ravel, The Shean Piano Competition, The Glenn Gould School Chamber Music Competition, and the CMC “Stepping Stone”. Dane has interviewed and performed on Florida’s Classical WSMR, Hong Kong’s RTHK Radio 4, and CBC Radio One. 

Dane is also a dedicated music educator and an award-winning research scholar, having lectured in institutions such as University of Toronto’s Graduate Piano Pedagogy Seminar, University of Hong Kong Advanced Performance Seminar among others. 

Dane trained at such academies as Chigiana, Mozarteum, Fontainebleau, Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival, ISA of mdw with Lilya Zilberstein, Robert Levin, Klaus Hellwig among many others. In Canada, his primary teachers include Marietta Orlov, Lydia Wong and Ilya Poletaev. Graduate of the University of Toronto and The Glenn Gould School of The Royal Conservatory, Dane is currently a Doctor of Music candidate and instructor of piano at McGill University Schulich School of Music.

Zhu Wang was generously supported by the George Brough Memorial Endowment.

Praised as “especially impressive” and “a thoughtful, sensitive performer” who “balanced lyrical warmth and crisp clarity”(Tommasini–The New York Times), pianist Zhu Wang was awarded First Prize in the 2020 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions, Gold Medalist at 2024 New Orleans International Piano Competition. Zhu was one of the finalists in the 2019 Clara Haskil International Piano Competition, and one of the prizewinners of 2024 Cleveland International Piano Competition. The world-renowned pianist Fou Ts’ong recognized Zhu as an “excellent pianist with a natural sense of harmony and imagination,” whose sensitive and engaging performances exhibit a remarkable depth of musicianship and poise beyond his age.

Recent performances include appearing as soloist with Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, New York Youth Symphony at Carnegie Hall Stern Auditorium, Columbus, Kansas City, Spokane, Memphis, and Richmond Symphony Orchestras, and solo recital for Hilton Head International Piano Competition. And highlights of the upcoming season include Grieg Piano Concerto with Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and Matthew Kraemer. Solo recital for Broman Concert Series and Tuesday Matinee at Kaufman Music Center, chamber music concert at Big Arts in Sanibel Island, Concerts International Chesapeake Music Festival, and concert tour in Europe and North America with violinist Randall Goosby in the spring of 2026.  

Celebrated for his “technical mastery and deep sense of lyricism,” (The Durango Herald), Zhu has appeared in recital at Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater, Southampton Rising Stars, Music at Dumbarton Oaks, The Morgan Library & Museum, Hayden’s Ferry Chamber Music Series, Buffalo Chamber Music Society, Salon de Virtuosi, and Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall, which made The New York Times’ “Best of Classical Music 2021” list.

An avid chamber musician, Zhu has appeared on series such as Chamber Music Detroit, Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, Vancouver Recital Society, La Jolla Music Society, Stanford Live, Hamilton College, Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival, Howland Chamber Music Series, Chesapeake Music, Clarion Concerts, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society,  and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Zhu is an alum of Kneisel Hall Chamber Music School, Bravo! Vail, Caramoor’s Evnin Rising Stars, Music@Menlo International Program, and he regularly appears in chamber music recitals with violinist Randall Goosby.

A native of Hunan Province, China, Zhu started learning piano at the age of five following his grandfather’s love of music. Zhu is a graduate of Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School and received Gina Bachauer Scholarship, Mieczyslaw Munz Scholarship, and Mehlin Prize. His teachers include Mikhail Voskerensky, Emanuel Ax, Robert McDonald, and Zhe Tang. He gratefully acknowledges the support of the Bagby Foundation for the Musical Arts. Zhu currently lives in New York City with his wife Chloe and their beloved three cats, Chaz, Tùzi and Jǔzi.