Fan Zhang

Biography

Praised by world-renowned pianists and pedagogues as an illustriously insightful pianist who plays vividly with great spirit and brilliant touch, Chinese-born pianist Fan Zhang is an active performer of solo and collaborative piano works, and embraces a wide range of repertoire and styles from Bach and Haydn to Albeniz, and Scriabin. She has concertized internationally in many stages including ones in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, California, Liaoning, and Ningxia, China.

Fan’s piano journey in the United States started in 2005. As the first recipient of the Global Ambassador Award with a full scholarship, she received her Bachelor of Music degree from Capital University. In 2010, Fan started her Master of Music degree at Indiana University, with the Associate Instructor Fellowship. Fan earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Michigan in May 2016, fully supported by Rackham Graduate Fellowship. Dr. Zhang’s principal teachers include Dr. Arthur Greene, Dr. Karen Shaw, and Dr. Tianshu Wang. Her past mentors include Nelita True, Thomas Schumacher, Danwen Wei, Zhaoyi Dan, Qifang Li, and Quming Zhang.

A winner of many competitions, including OMTA/Graves Young Artist, Ohio MTNA Collegiate Young Artist Competition, Akron Tuesday Musical Association Piano Competition, and the Capital University Conservatory of Music Concerto Competition. Additionally Fan has been the honored recipient of The Presser Foundation Award, Nancy B. and Nicholas J. Perrini Award, Karen Jeanne Foster Keyboard Performance Award and the Women in Music Columbus Award, among other distinctions.

In addition to performing, Fan is passionate about teaching. She has enjoyed ten years of teaching experience working with piano students in a variety of settings both in the United States as well as in China. She has taught class piano and piano lessons for five years during her graduate studies at both the University of Michigan, and Indiana University. Dr. Zhang also had a successful piano studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan, teaching piano students of all ages and abilities with various aspects of technique and musicality. Her studio has been ranked No. 1 piano studio in Ann Arbor in 2016 on the well-known Thumbtack. Her students have participated in the Michigan Students Achievement Test, and received excellent grades.

In fall of 2016, Dr. Fan Zhang joined the piano faculty at Capital University, where she teaches Keyboard Pedagogy and Applied Piano, and is the supervisor of the Keyboard Pedagogy Internship Program. She is currently serving as the faculty advisor of Capital University Collegiate Chapter. As a member of MTNA, OhioMTA and Central East District of OhioMTA, Fan is active participating in conferences, seminars, local music programs and competitions.