Carol Chuang
Director / Piano
Carol Chuang has enjoyed a lustrous career as an accomplished pianist, a widely-recognized piano pedagogue, and one of the most successful classical music entrepreneurs of Northern California. A native of Taiwan, she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the National Institute of the Arts in Taiwan (later renamed Taipei National University of the Arts). Ms. Chuang came to the United States in 1996 pursuing a Master of Music degree in Piano Performance with full scholarship at College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati.
Currently, Ms. Chuang is the president and Executive Director of the Pacific Institute of Music in Folsom, California. As a pianist, she has performed regularly with her colleagues in piano trio, piano duo across Northern California. Ms Chuang is a frequent guest artist at such established chamber music festivals and concert series as: Crocker Art Museum Concert Series, Westminster Presbyterian Church “Music At Noon” Concert Series, MTAC State Convention and Folsom Lake College Harris Center for the Arts to name a few.
Ms Chuang is a passionate piano teacher, avid music educator and a clinician. She has served as a faculty member at the Music Fest Perugia in Italy since 2022. Her critically acclaimed masterclasses were showcased in the California State University, East Bay. During her more than 30 years in piano pedagogy, she has brought up numerous prize winners of local, state and international competitions, such as Vancouver Internatioanl Music Competition, San Jose International Competition, Chopin Foundation, Pacific Musical Society & Foundation, Henry and Carol Zeiter Piano Competition, International Crescendo Music Competition, CAPMT State Final Concerto Competition, Honors Competition and Contemporary Music Competition, MTAC Piano Solo and Concerto State Final Competition, United States Open Music Competition, MTNA Music Competition, Auburn Symphony Young Artist Competition, New York Debut Young Musician Competition and Xinghai Cup National Piano Competition in China and many more. Her students have frequently appeared as soloists with symphony and chamber orchestras across the United States and Europe.
As successful administrator and entrepreneur, Ms Chuang is a co-funder and an Executive Director of Pacific ChamberFest. She is a President and an Executive Director of Classical Masters Music Festival. Also, Ms. Chuang has been serving as a president of two major non-profit music organizations: Music Teachers Association of California, Sierra Branch and the California Association of Professional Music Teachers, Sacramento Chapter. In the past several years, Ms. Chuang has organized and conducted the PIOM Piano Masterclass Series with leading pianists coming from around the world. Additionally, Ms Chuang currently serves as the California Coordinator of Crescendo International Music Competition. Through this competition, she has brought many students to Crescendo Competition Winners Concerts at Carnegie Hall in New York for many years. Being an active member of her community, she has been instrumental to many educational outreach programs and fundraising campaigns.