Tien Hsieh

Recognized for exceptional temperament, personal expressivity and insight, pianist Tien Hsieh has enjoyed a far-ranging career as a recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber musician.   While performing intensively throughout the America West, she has appeared on major series in San Francisco and Seattle, as well as concert series as far afield as Callanwolde Fine Arts Center in Atlanta, Dame Myra Hess Series in Chicago, Lane Series at University of Vermont and Impromptu Concerts in Key West, Florida.
New York Concert Review praised Tien Hsieh’s 2008 return to New York’s Carnegie Hall-Weill Recital Hall as “Unusually impressive, compelling, thrusting, extraordinary, most memorable and deeply moving.”
As a prize-winner of the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition, Tien Hsieh played an all-Liszt program at the Liszt Museum - Old Liszt Academy in Budapest, Hungary. She has also performed solo recitals and chamber music in China and Germany.
Her recent orchestral appearances include soloist with the Spokane Symphony at The Festival at Sandpoint, Redlands Symphony at Redlands Bowl and Oregon Mozart Players. As a collaborative musician, she toured with the Czech Republic’s Graffe Quartet with the Schumann Piano Quintet and performed to new choreography with State Street Ballet in Santa Barbara.
Recent highlights include solo recitals throughout California, Washington, Alaska and the release of her new album ‘Mostly Transcriptions’, released on the Titanic label. Harris Goldsmith of New York Concert Review (February 25, 2011) writes, “...Miraculously and convincingly recreated”.
American Record Guide (May/June 2011 Issue) writes, “The effect is that Liszt himself was sitting in my living room…Hsieh plays with grace and energy. She has a keen ear for the music’s architecture, and make the piano sing in every register.” Tien’s performance in San Francisco was selected as Top 12 of ‘What is Remembered’ in 2009 by New News Publisher for World News.
A grant recipient of the Li-Ching Cultural and Educational Foundation Grant, Tien Hsieh’s achievements include 2008 Distinguished Artist Award from Artists International Presentation, first prize winner of both Pacific Piano Competition & Festival and Texas Music Teacher Association Collegiate Concerto Competition, as well as award winner of competitions across the U.S.
Tien Hsieh’s collaborations as orchestral pianist include Manhattan Symphony Orchestra, Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire with Gold Country Chamber Players, Orff’s Carmina Burana with Sacramento Ballet and Stravinsky’s Les Noces at Mondavi Center’s Jackson Hall at UC Davis in California.
She has been heard on radio broadcast WFMT in Chicago, KXJZ of Sacramento, Northwest Focus on KING in Seattle, Key West, Eugene, Eureka, Art Beat on KONP in Port Angeles and appeared on PBS for International Piano Festival in Houston, Texas. Her recent performance projects include solo recital programs featuring one composer, including J.S. Bach Transcriptions, Franz Liszt and Robert Schumann.
While a scholarship recipient at the Manhattan School of Music, Tien Hsieh received the prestigious Roy M. Rubinstein Award and Bettingen Corporation Grant, where she received the Professional Studies Diploma and Master of Music degree under the tutelage of Dr. Marc Silverman.
Earlier, she was a full scholarship student at University of Houston where she received her Bachelor of Music degree, studying with Abbey Simon and Ruth Tomfohrde. She was also a scholarship student at the St. Louis Conservatory of Music under the guidance of Jane Allen and Carol Tafoya.
Born in Taipei, Taiwan of Chinese parents, Tien’s environment naturally drew her into music. In Taipei, her musical mother mentored young pianists while her architect father designed and implemented harmonious environments in Taiwan. Tien immigrated with her family to the United States when she was nine years old, and currently resides in Folsom, California. She began her musical training with her mother, who maintains an active piano studio in Sacramento. Tien also studied piano with Sacramento professors Richard Carpenter and Yuriy Oliynyk during formative years. Her touring rosters include California Arts Council Performing Arts Touring and Presenting Program and Northwest on Tour. Tien Hsieh is Founding Artistic Director, Curator and Co-Founder of Classical Masters Music Festival.
The three-day inaugural festival took place in June of 2011 at Three Stages Performing Arts Center in Folsom, CA and included 52 young pianists representing 25 cities throughout California, 12 youth performers from the Sacramento Youth Symphony’s Summer Chamber Music Workshop, 7 performing guest artists and judges, music by 48 composers, 3 master classes, 3 concerts, live piano competition rounds, film screenings, youth career development session and special afternoon session with a distinguished guest artist.
Her current projects include collaboration with The Kenya Project of University of California Davis-School of Medicine, which strives to improve global health by facilitating intercultural experiences in healthcare that educate and enrich future physicians worldwide.
The participants gain first-hand public health and healthcare delivery experiences in an economically deprived region of Kenya. In support of The Kenya Project through music, Tien Hsieh will perform a solo public fundraising concert for the greater Sacramento/Yolo region in Spring of 2012.
Aside from her performance pursuits, Tien Hsieh finds time to mentor a few young pianists at her private studio in Folsom. She enjoys making jewelry in her spare time and occasionally playing as a headliner for her sailing audiences at sea. When frequently asked, “What is your goal?” She answers, “My goal is to keep the music alive.”