Dr. Jiao Sun enjoys an international performing career, featuring a broad range of styles from the prior Baroque era to the avant-garde. Born in Harbin China and studied piano at age 4, Sun has nationally won the first prize to be admitted to Beijing Central Conservatory of Music at age 9 before her solo debut with orchestra at age 11 with winning the prestigious Chinese “Chengxian Fu” memorial Scholarship. At the beginning of her teenager years, she was semifinalist at Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition for Young Musicians and advanced in Chopin International Piano Competition for Young Musicians. Sun has won top prizes at the Washington International Piano Competition, Memphis International Repertoire Orchestra Competition, Cincinnati Conservatory Concerto Competition, two Chautauqua Piano Competitions, Ohio “Tuesday” Scholarship Competition, Russian “A Step Towards Mastery” International Piano Competition, Chinese Golden Bell National Competition for Young Musicians. She has performed extensively across North America, Europe, and Asia.
Sun has performed in major concert series including Chicago Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert, New York Rising Stars Piano Series, Cincinnati Zemlinsky Prize Concerts, Washington International Music Competition Concert among others. She has attended Bowdoin International Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, PianoFest in the Hamptons, and two Chautauqua Music Festivals. She has soloed with Memphis Repertory Orchestra, Cincinnati Conservatory Philharmonia Orchestra, and Saint Petersburg Academic Philharmonia Orchestra. Her concert has been aired on Chicago WFMT 98.7 and Cincinnati WGUC 90.9 radios. She has guest soloed at University of Chicago, China Conservatory of Music, Tianjin Conservatory of Music, and at major concert halls in China such as Forbidden City Concert Hall and Zhong Shan Concert Hall. She has performed in masterclasses with worldwide renowned musicians such as Garry Graffman, Robert McDonald, Alexander Gavrylyuk, Ran Dank, Logan Skelton, Natalya Antonova, Aviram Reichert, Enrico Elisi, Guangren Zhou, among others.
Highlights of her 2023-2024 season, she performed in Ohio and Kentucky concert series as a returning guest artist, soloed and taught masterclass at Ohio Denison University, will judge Vivace French International Piano Competition and judge Orbifold Los Angeles International Piano Competition which she will also serve as the regional director of Ohio. She is also the editor-in-chief of Chinese and English bilingual magazine “ALONG 同行” 2024 summer edition featuring worldwide professional living artists. Sun has judged the 2022 Ohio Duo and Duet International Piano Competition and the 2023 Hong Kong International Global Music Talent Contest. She has also started to serve as a Master Teacher of Piano at Athens Community Music School for spring 2024.
An active chamber musician, Sun’s “SunRix Trio” has been acknowledged by Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition for their Outstanding Performance as one of the six piano trios advanced nationwide, after won 1st place at the Hong Kong International Chamber Music Competition and 2nd prize at the Cincinnati Conservatory Chamber Music Competition. She has attended the Cincinnati Chamber Music Festival as a fellowship artist and has been selected as a fellow for the Toronto Chamber Music Festival. She has guest performed and lectured at numerous concerts such as Cincinnati “La Salle” music series, two Eastman Honors recitals, Northern Kentucky University, and Ohio Walnut High School. She recently performed at Society of Composers Inc regional concerts with brass and percussion ensemble featuring American and Asian living composers.
Started to serve as an adjunct piano faculty and collaborative artist in residence at Ohio University School of Music in 2021, Sun holds a Doctoral of Musical Arts degree in piano performance and an Artist Diploma with Soyeon Kate Lee at University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) where she won the Graduate Excellence in Teaching Award as the head of graduate teaching assistants besides winning the noble Dorothy Stolzenbach Payne Scholarships; she has also earned a minor in piano pedagogy with Michelle Conda. Sun has gained a Master of Music degree in piano performance and literature with Douglas Humpherys and a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance with Rebecca Penneys at the Eastman. Her other mentors include Hwaen Ch’uqi, James Tocco, Ann Schein, Paul Schenly, Bernadene Blaha, Amy I-Lin Cheng, Elinor Freer, Sylvie Beaudette, Yuan Ling, Manchun Chen, Yuan Ling, Qifang Li, members of the Ariel quartet and Ying quartet.
School of Music. Dr. Sun has presented twice at the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy (NCKP) and at the MTNA Collegiate Chapters Piano Pedagogy Symposium. She has won 3rd prize for the poster session at the OhioMTA conference and has been published in the MTNA E-Journal as an invited reporter at the National Group Piano and Piano Pedagogy Forum (GP3).