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Attend and perform in interactive workshops throughout the Oscar Larson Performing Arts Center. Performance workshops will be led by SDSU faculty Mark Stevens, director of keyboard studies Xuan Kuang, instructor of class piano and artistic collaboration and guest artist Andrea Johnson, assistant professor of piano pedagogy, University of Northern Iowa. Audience members are encouraged to move freely between workshops to hear their favorite repertoire and learn unique ideas from each pianist!

A virtual masterclass option will be offered for students who are unable to travel to Brookings.

Two SDSU pianists will present their 2024 South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã Music Teachers Association competition programs for attendees. Our guest artist will offer comments to performers and audience members about competition preparation, successful performance tips and the selected repertoire.

Join SDSU piano students and faculty for a light meal before our afternoon recital (included). 

Andrea Johnson serves as assistant professor of piano pedagogy at the University of Northern Iowa, where she coordinates the group piano and piano pedagogy programs. Johnson obtained her Doctor of Musical Arts in piano performance and pedagogy degree in 2019 at the University of Oklahoma, where she also served as instructor of piano pedagogy from 2018-2019. Her primary teachers include Jane Magrath, Barbara Fast, Claire Wachter, David Riley, Susan Chan and Leonard Richter. She also holds degrees from the University of Oregon and Portland State University. 

Johnson has enjoyed collaborative performances with faculty members at the University of Northern Iowa and University of Oklahoma, and her recent invited solo and collaborative performances include Portland, Eugene, Bend and Monmouth, Oregon; Pullman, Washington; Norman, Oklahoma; Cedar Falls, Iowa; Denton, Texas; Tucson, Arizona; and Athens and Nafplion, Greece. In May 2022, Johnson traveled as the piano accompanist and solo performer with the University of Northern Iowa Cecilians Choral Ensemble to Greece with director Amy Kotsonis.  

Mark Stevens enjoys a dynamic career as a solo pianist, collaborative artist, teacher and adjudicator. Stevens’ experience as a pianist ranges from traditional piano repertoire to contemporary music, with a focus on works written in the past 50 years. An active commissioner, he is preparing to premiere 10 new concert works composed by a range of early to middle-career American-identifying composers, all of which are designed to be accessible to the advanced amateur pianist. In recital, he engages audiences through thematic programming, juxtapositions of unique repertoire and colorful insights about music, composers and cultural context. 

Stevens serves as director of keyboard studies and assistant professor of piano at South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã State University. An active and committed teacher for nearly 25 years, he has repeatedly been awarded for the quality of his instruction. His students have won dozens of prizes in competitions including the Music Teachers National Association competition (junior and senior, state level), the South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã and Washington State Music Teachers competitions, the Seattle Young Artists Music Festival and the Northwest Bach, Viennese Classical, Romantic and Contemporary Piano Festivals. He is regularly invited to adjudicate and teach throughout United States, offering masterclasses and workshops for universities, professional organizations, and music academies. As president of the South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã Music Teachers Association, he is active in service to his profession at the state level and beyond.

Stevens holds graduate degrees in piano performance and piano pedagogy from the University of Oregon and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He completed his undergraduate studies in piano performance at Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington. He has served as a member of the faculty at Washington State University, the University of Oregon, the Chopin Academy of Music and as a visiting instructor at Cornish College of the Arts. His primary teachers include David Riley, Dean Kramer, Judith Schoepflin, Paul Barnes and Peter Mack, and he has performed in masterclasses with artists including Jon Nakamatsu and the Chiara String Quartet.

Xuan Kuang is a pianist and began her piano career at the age of 5. Her love of music was cultivated by her mentor, Jiang ZhenRui, in Wuhan, China. Her music career started shining in many competitions she participated in through the Oklahoma Music Teachers Association, Wuhan Piano Competition, Naftez Piano Competition and China National Music Festival. Also, studying with many prestigious piano teachers such as Jiang Nian, Jiang ZhenRui, Sergio Monteiro, Rene Lecuona and Alan Huckleberry has given her a great opportunity to expand her music repertoire. She received her bachelor's degree in piano performance at Wuhan Conservatory of Music in Wuhan, China, where she studied with Jiang Nian and Jiang ZhenRui. After that, she received her master's degree in piano performance from Oklahoma City University under the guidance of Sergio Monteiro. In 2013, she moved to Iowa City to earn her Doctor of Music Arts at the University of Iowa.

At University of Iowa, as a piano teaching assistant, she taught group piano class and individual piano lessons and also served as an accompanist of weekly vocal studio seminars and as an instrumental accompanist. She was one of the most popular teachers among piano students. Her class was always entertaining and efficient.

In 2017, Kuang and her husband moved to Brookings to work in the music department at South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã State University. Now she is a piano instructor at South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã State University and the Brookings Community Music School. In the past, she was the pianist of South à£à£Ö±²¥Ðã State University Women’s Choir, piano instructor at the Brookings Community Music School and also the organist at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. 

Kuang is an active member of the Music Teacher National Association and the Brookings Music Teacher Association.