Biography

Praised as the "Piano Poet", Dr Cheng Wai is a pianist and Steinway Artist from Hong Kong. She graduated from Curtis Institute of Music, and was the first graduate of Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. She obtained her master's degree, artist diploma and doctoral degree from Yale University and Stony Brook University in the United States. voted as one of the Top Ten Outstanding Young Persons by the Junior Chamber International Hong Kong in 2009. In 2020, she received the "Greater Bay Area Outstanding Women Entrepreneur Award". Dr Cheng is currently the chairperson of the Central Conservatory of Music (HK) Foundation,and also a member of the China Musicians Association. In 2023, Dr. Cheng was appointed as Honorary Professor of Huaqiao University. She teaches at several Hong Kong’s prestigious universities and adjudicates major Asian and global competitions.

 

Dr. Cheng has performed as a soloist with many renowned orchestras, including the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, the Denmark Odense Symphony Orchestra, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra. She has also collaborated with many outstanding musicians, including Augustin Dumay, Lü Si-qing, Li Chuan-yun, as well as Jian Wang and Florent Héau. In 2017, Dr. Cheng Wai was the first Hong Kong pianist to be invited by Beijing Poly Theatre to tour 15 cities in China under the theme of ‘Dessiner la Musique, Cheng Wai Piano Recital China Tour’, with the pioneering use of piano and fine art paintings to her concerts, achieving phenomenal success, with Changsha and Chengdu being state-sponsored performances by the Hong Kong Government in commemoration of the handover of Hong Kong. In July 2017, she participated in the music gala honoring the 20th Anniversary of Hong Kong's Handover to the Motherland, mentoring international movie star Donnie Yen in performing the "Yellow River Piano Concerto" with renowned Chinese pianist Lang Lang to welcome PRC Chairman Xi Jinping on his Hong Kong visit.

In 2018, upon Dr Yip Wai Hong's invitation, she performed three piano concertos over two nights, including ‘Temptation’ composed by Dr Yip. In June 2019, Dr Cheng was once again invited by LCSD and Beijing Poly Theatre to give a solo tour in the Greater Bay Area.

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Dr Cheng has long been invited as a popular adjudicator in Hong Kong and International piano competitions. In 2018, she was the only Chinese adjudicator in the CARMEL KLAVIER International Piano Competition in the USA.