Praised as a “big pianist, big musician, big potential” with “compelling artistry that draws the listeners in and envelops them with musical joy,” pianist Ho Yan Agnes Wan most recently completed a performance tour to Paris and the United Kingdom (London, Coventry, Cambridge, and St. Andrew in Scotland), as well as one to Ontario, Canada (Kitchener and Toronto) and another one to six cities in Texas. Highlights of other prior engagements included a highly successful recital on the “Pianists of the World” series at the prestigious St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London, United Kingdom, where she performed for a full house of audience and the season kick-off on the SPG Live! Concert Series at the Steinway Piano Gallery of Charlotte, where she performed on the legendary Horowitz piano (CD 503) as part of the piano’s Piedmont Region Tour.

A first prize winner at the Paris Grand Prize Virtuoso Music Competition and the Bradshaw and Buono International Piano Competition, Agnes Wan has also won the Loyola Concerto/Aria Competition, University of Iowa All-University Concerto/Aria Competition, and the University of Iowa Chamber Music Competition. Other awards she has received include the Special Presentation Award at the Artist International Debut Auditions, an Honorable Mention at the Los Angeles Liszt International Piano Competition, and fourth prize at the Hong Kong Open Piano Competition, in addition to numerous scholarships. In 2012, she was selected as a finalist at the International Web Concert Hall Competition, in which she was the only solo pianist among all the finalists that year. Her recent recital at St. Martin-in-the-Fields was the result of her success in an audition that drew many applications from talented musicians all over the world.

Agnes Wan’s debut compact disc recording, “Robert Schumann: Romance at the Piano,” released on Soundset Recordings label in late 2012, received critical acclaim from music critic Jerry Dubins (with the Fanfare Magazine): “… Wan plays these Schumann pieces as expressively and poetically as anyone I’ve heard, always placing her technical mastery at the service of Schumann’s ever-inventive musical imagination.”

Agnes holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Iowa and an Artist Diploma from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She also obtained her bachelor of music (hons.) degree and double master’s degrees in music therapy and piano performance at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and Loyola University New Orleans respectively. Her teachers have included Gabriel Kwok, Nancy Loo, Jac McCracken, Uriel Tsachor, James Tocco, and Michael Chertock. Passionate about Bach's music, she also received tutelage specifically on the interpretation of Bach's keybaord works from the renowned Chinese pianist Yuan Sheng, who studied intensively with Bach expert Rosalyn Tureck.

Agnes Wan has previously served on the faculties of Maryville College, the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University, and Chowan University. Currently she is an Assistant Professor of Piano at Virginia State University and an Adjunct Lecturer of Applied Music (Piano) at the College of William and Mary. In September 2013, she was invited to join the roster of Steinway Artist, an honorable designation she has since held.

It is with deep sadness that we report that Dr. Agnes Wan passed away in September 2019 after a battle with cancer. She was 42. Read more here.