Brightmusic Chamber Ensemble

Born in Taiwan, pianist Amy I-Lin Cheng has performed in the United States, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Taiwan, Brazil, France, and Israel. She has been praised by The New York Concert Review for her complete control of the keyboard and by Claude Frank as “a brilliant, sensitive, imaginative and most beguiling pianist.” Amy’s performances have aired on WGBH, KCSC, WHYY, La Radio Suisse Romande-Espace 2, WFMT, and NPR. She has given recitals at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Merkin Concert Hall, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, and the National Concert Hall in Taipei, as well as in series throughout the United States. At 17, she made her Boston concerto debut at Jordan Hall. Since then, she has appeared as a concerto soloist with the Musica Viva Moscow Chamber Orchestra, the Taichung Philharmonic, the Orchestra of the Pines, the University Symphony Orchestra and Concert Band at the University of Michigan, the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, and others. Notable premieres include the North American premiere of the Kaprálová Piano Concerto (2015), the U.S. premiere of Daniel Rein’s Improvisation on Misirlou (2017), and Chun-Da Huang’s Double Concerto for Yangqin and Piano (2019). Her recording of the Kaprálová piano concerto was released on Naxos in 2021, leading to a new 2025 two-piano edition co-edited by Amy and Timothy Cheek. In 2022, her video recordings of Fernande Decruck’s solo piano works were released on Éditions Billaudot’s YouTube channel.

A dedicated chamber musician, Amy enjoys collaborating with others from a very young age. Amy is the co-Artistic Director of the Brightmusic Society of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City, a non-profit organization that has commissioned and presented chamber music concerts since 2003. Formed in 1999, Duo Clarion (with clarinetist Chad Burrow) has performed at venues such as Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall and the National Concert Hall in Taipei, as well as across the US and Asia. Duo Clarion’s 2026 album on Centaur Records included the never-before-recorded Logo II by Eugene Kurtz. The duo’s recording of music by Brahms and Schumann received an outstanding review in the ICA publication. Violinist Sean Yung-Hsiang Wang joined the duo to form Trio Solari in 2006. Trio Solari released its debut CD through Centaur Records in 2016. Trio Solari has commissioned and performed trios by Edward Knight and Joseph Tyldesley. Amy has toured as a guest pianist with the American Chamber Players and America's Dream Chamber Artists. She performs frequently with the Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings and the Michigan Chamber Players Series at the University of Michigan. Amy has been part of many commissioning and premiering initiatives and has recorded chamber music works by composers such as Edward Knight, Laura Schwendinger, Stephen Rush, and Adolphus Hailstork on Centaur, Albany, and the Block M Records. Most recently, she gave the world premiere of The Plus One (2022) for Two Pianos by Jorge Variego with pianist Stephen Beck at the 2022 Sewanee Summer Music Festival. In 2024-2025, she gave several world premieres of chamber music, including Sonata No. 2 for Cello and Piano by Elena Ruehr, Superluminal Motion for Piano Trio by Max Heyck, and The Swan Song of Time for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano by William Aceytuno. Her 2026 recording with soprano Emily Truckenbrod, “In Her Voice,” Art Song Settings of Women Poets, received a favorable review as “an important recording which deserves the widest possible circulation” from PSWCRITIC. 

A highly sought-after collaborator, Amy has performed with artists such as David Shifrin, Wenzel Fuchs, Sophie Shao, David Buck, David Halen, Yoonshin Song, Yoojin Jang, and Misha Quint. She has been a Pianist in Residence at the International Double Reed Society Convention in 2010 and 2011, and at the International Woodwind Festival in 2012, 2001, and 2002. Other chamber music series and festival appearances include the Beacon Arts Michigan series, Eureka Chamber Music Series (CA), Anchorage Chamber Music Festival, Maui Classical Music Festival, Festival Mozaic, Interharmony International Music Festival (Germany), Sewanee Summer Music Festival (TN), Brightmusic Chamber Music Festival since 2012 (OKC), Quartz Mountain Music Festival, Taos School of Music, LaJolla SummerFest, OKMozart International Music Festival, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and Jerusalem Chamber Music Encounter.

Amy enjoys a career in teaching and has given piano and chamber music masterclasses across the USA, Brazil, Taiwan, and Germany for both college and pre-college students. Her university students have been awarded top prizes in MTNA competitions (Chamber Music), solo and concerto competitions, scholarships to graduate programs, and summer festival programs, and many of her former students hold college appointments in the US and abroad. Committed to the education of young pianists, Amy devotes her time to instructing them. She has worked with young pianists and youth chamber music groups at summer festivals, the Franklin School for the Performing Arts in Massachusetts, and the Community Music School of Ann Arbor. Currently, she maintains a small studio of private students in Ann Arbor.

A graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music (BM), Yale University School of Music (MM and Artist Diploma), and the New England Conservatory (DMA), Amy holds degrees in Piano Performance. Her principal teachers were Claude Frank, Wha-Kyung Byun, Rolf-Peter Wille, and Yi-Hsien Chang. She studied chamber music with Robert McDonald, Peter Frankl, Michael Friedmann, and Boris Berman. Before moving to Ann Arbor, Amy was the Head of the Piano Area at the Wanda L. Bass School of Oklahoma City University (06-09) and the Assistant Professor of Piano at Oklahoma State University (02-06). After serving as a collaborative pianist for the School of Music, Theatre & Dance at the University of Michigan for two seasons, Amy joined the Piano Department faculty in 2012 as a Lecturer in Piano, where she teaches studio piano and coaches chamber music. Since the fall of 2022, she has continued her college teaching career as an Assistant Professor of Music and will begin fall 2026 as an Associate Professor of Music in Piano and Chamber Music.