Music Biography
Keri is currently a student of the King’s College London – Hong Kong University Joint PhD programme in Musicology under the supervision of Professor Matthew Head and Professor Daniel Chua. Previously, Keri studied in the University of Southern California, where she graduated as a Discovery Scholar under the tutelage of Professor Norman Krieger with a major in Piano Performance and a minor in Music Industry. She also studied with British pianist and pedagogue Andrew Ball in Royal College of Music, where she obtained her Master of Piano Performance and was awarded the Evelyn Tarrant Award in the Artist Diploma programme.
Keri began taking piano and violin lessons when she was 8. Her earliest awards include the third prize of the Sixth International Chopin Piano Competition in Hong Kong Asia in 2003 and a first prize in the Asian Youth Music Competition in Hong Kong in 2004. One of her most memorable experiences was accompanying singer Bobby McFerrin and the St. Paul’s Co-educational Primary School Choir in the Hong Kong Arts Festival at the Hong Kong Cultural Center when she was 12. Before pursuing music in the university, Keri entered Idyllwild Arts Academy at the age of 16 with a scholarship as a violin major studying under Todor Pelev, concertmaster of San Bernardino Symphony. Within two months, however, she developed severe injuries that stopped her from playing instruments for almost two years. She eventually gave up on the violin and changed her major to piano performance with Dr. Andrew Park as her teacher.
As a soloist, Keri has performed J.S. Bach’s Double Violin Concerto in D with Salzburg Junge Philharmonie in the Mirabell Palace and Gardens in Salzburg, Austria; Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No.5 with Coeur D’Alene Symphony in the Salvation Army Kroc Center in Spokane, Washington and Hawaii Youth Symphony in the Blaisdell Concert Hall in Honolulu, Hawaii; and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.4 with Antelope Valley Symphony in Antelope Valley College Performing Arts Theatre in Lancaster, California.
A scholarship recipient of Piano Summer New Paltz, Brevard Music Center, and Southeastern Piano Festival, Keri has worked with pianists including Daniel Lessener, Victor Rosenbaum, Vladimir Feltsman, Alexander Korsantia, Susan Starr, Robert Roux,Robert Hamilton, Paul Ostrovsky, Phillip Kawin, Logan Skelton, Pamela Mia Paul, Vladimir Viardo, Angela Cheng, Carol Leone, John Adams, Lucinda Carver, Charles Dennis Thurmond, Li MingQiang, and Hae-Won Chang.
Awards received include honourable mention in the Glendale Piano Competition, first prize of the Antelope Valley Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, fifth prize of the Edith Knox Performance Competition, first prize of the Pyrenees Music Society French Music Competition, grand prix of Pyrenees Music Society Russian Music Competition, an honorable mention of the International Young Artist Piano Competition in Washington, D.C., an honorable mention of Wildflower International Recording Competition, first prize of the Aloha International Piano Concerto Competition, first prize of the Coeur d’Alene Symphony National Young Artists Competition, fourth prize of the Brevard Music Center Piano Competition, second prize of ENKOR competition (2016), a first prize in the piano division in the Hatfield & District Music Festival, and a first prize in the IMKA internet music competition. In March 2017, Keri was one of the 25 pianists chosen to compete in the Virginia Warring International Piano Competition in Palm Desert, California. In May 2018, Keri was invited to Los Angeles to serve as a judge for the 2018 Friends of William Grant Still Young Artists Competition.
An occasional songwriter, Keri has written songs that reached the third round of the 19th USA Songwriting Competition in 2014. She was also awarded two Honourable Mentions, with Special Recognition, in the 2016 SongDoor Songwriting Competition.
Today, due to chronic pain resulted from previous injuries in 2008, Keri no longer spends time on piano performance. Doctors have suggested she has focal dystonia although others have claimed otherwise. Regardless, Keri is still giving piano lessons to students of all ages. She teaches in English, Mandarin, and Cantonese. You can also find her teaching beginner-level English every Friday night at All Souls Church, London.
