DMA Recital: Xinrui Huang, piano

Xinrui Huang is a signed artist with Hemiola and a member of the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA). She is currently pursuing her Doctoral of Musical Arts Degree in Piano Performance at the University of Washington, under the tutelage of Craig Sheppard. 

Xinrui is an active performer and has been invited to perform as a soloist and chamber musician at several prestigious music venues in the United States such as the Carnegie Hall in New York, the Kresge Auditorium at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Meydenbauer theater in Bellevue and Meany Hall at University of Washington. In March 2025, Xinrui was invited to perform on King FM’s NW Focus Live as one of the featured representatives of Craig Sheppard’s piano studio at the University of Washington. She performed Schumann’s Kinderszenen and participated in an on-air interview. In April 2024, as one of the winners of the Piano Concerto Competition, she performed Mendelssohn Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Northwest Sinfonietta at Meany Hall of the University of Washing in Seattle, conducted by David Rahbee. In March 2024, She was invited by the “Golden Classical Music Award” to make her debut at Carnegie Hall in New York.  In February 2024, she was invited to perform in the “Ode to Spring” Chinese New Year Gala at Meydenbauer Theater, etc.. 

Described by acclaimed pianist and former Oberlin Conservatory professor Peter Takacs as “both a poetic and powerhouse pianist,” Xinrui has received top prizes in numerous national and international competitions. Her accolades include First Prizes at the Debussy International Music Competition, Golden Classical Music Awards, Charleston International Music Competition, and the International German Music Competition. She also earned Second Prize in the Washington State Music Teachers Association (WSMTA) Young Artist Division and was a prizewinner in the Yamaha Asia Piano Competition, as well as other early honors in Jiangsu’s Jasmine Cup and the Macau Piano Invitation Competition. She has appeared at major international festivals such as the second Sino-US Exchange Music Festival held by the New England Conservatory of Music, Mannes Sound Festival of ‘Music Excursion through History’, the Beijing International Music Festival & Academy, and the Seattle Piano Institute.

In 2019, she attained her bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance from Nanjing University of Arts under the mentorship of Gang Sun on First-class scholarship as the recognition of her academic excellence. During her undergraduate years, Xinrui stood out as the sole representative from the Conservatory of Music chosen to embark the exchange program at Taiwan University of the Arts with a full scholarship in 2017 under the guidance of Minhui Wang. In 2022, She received her master’s degree in Piano Performance from Mannes School of Music in New York with a generous scholarship, under the guidance of Jerome Rose. She has presented at masterclasses for renowned pianists including Alon Goldstein, Alvin Chow, Alexandra Dossin, Danwen Wei, Gabriel Chodos, Gabriel Kwok, Garrick Ohlsson, Robin McCabe, Pavlina Dokovska, Victor Rosenbaum, etc..

Born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, Dr. Mia HyeYeon Kim began her piano studies at the age of seven. She has earned prizes in the Frances Walton Competition, the Metropolitan International Piano Competition, the Texas State International Piano Competition, the Memphis International Piano Competition, the Universal Music Competition, and the Seoul Philharmonic Competition. In spring 2024, Dr. Kim performed George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the University of Washington Wind Ensemble, conducted by Timothy Salzman, in both Seattle and Daejeon, South Korea. In 2023, she performed with the Central Texas Philharmonic Orchestra under Stefan Sanders as a winner of the Texas State International Piano Concerto Competition. She won the University of Washington Concerto Competition in 2022 and performed Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the UW Symphony Orchestra, conducted by David Rahbee. Also in 2023, she premiered Viktor Kosenko’s Mazurka No. 1 on Classical KING FM 98.1. An active performer in her community, she has appeared at the Seattle Public Library, the Museum of Flight, Seattle Opera’s Tagney Jones Hall, and the Seattle Art Museum.

Dr. Kim is also an experienced educator. At the University of Washington, she has served as a Teaching Assistant for the Modern Music Ensemble and secondary piano courses. She has worked as Director of the Creative Keyboards Piano Camp and as a piano faculty member at Music Works Northwest in Bellevue, Washington. In summer 2025, she was appointed a Rising Faculty Star at the 15th Texas State International Piano Festival, where she gave masterclasses to gifted young musicians. In fall 2024, she was invited to perform and teach masterclasses as a faculty artist at the Georgia Musicale Group Retreat Festival. In 2026, she will join the piano faculty of the OpusOne International Music Festival. Since 2023, she has also served as an adjudicator for the Ladies Musical Club of Seattle and the Washington Music Educators Association Solo and Ensemble Competition.

Outside of music, Dr. Kim enjoys coffee, movies, and yoga. She recently completed her vinyasa yoga teaching certification and is exploring ways to integrate yoga into musical training. In 2022, she led a “Yoga for Musicians” workshop at the University of Washington with support from the UW School of Music Student Advisory Council.

Dr. Kim earned her Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of Washington with a dissertation titled An Analytical Study of Das Jahr by Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, under the direction of Craig Sheppard. She received her Bachelor of Music from Yonsei University in Seoul, her Master of Music from the New England Conservatory under Victor Rosenbaum, and her Artist Diploma from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music under Soyeon Kate Lee.

Since 2022, she has taught as adjunct faculty in the Master of Arts in Music program at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia.