Gemini Piano Trio
About Us
Members of the Gemini are additionally all acclaimed soloists
The San Diego Union-Tribune hailed the Gemini Piano Trio as “mind readers”
with “almost uncanny musical closeness.” The New York Concert Review by late
Edith Eisler referred the trio as “a model of classical elegance and restraint.”
The trio was also praised for their “amazing virtuosity” by Music Monthly, as well
as for their Taipei debut performance that “epitomized the idiom of chamber music”
by The Taipei times.
The American Record Guide praised their début Ives/Brahms CD saying, “There is an admirable balance between confidence, polished technique, and impulsive, romantic ardor in this performance.” Their second album, featuring trios by Ravel and Shostakovich, released in 2003, also received rave reviews. The trio has also taken top prizes in many of the great chamber music competitions. At La Jolla Chamber Music Society's SummerFest, the trio worked with the great artists of our time such as Cecile Licad, Cho-Liang Lin, Joseph Kalichstein, David Finckel, Wu Han, Ida Kavafian, Gilbert Kalish, and Menahem Pressler.
In addition to a standing room-only debut concert at the Taipei National Recital Hall in 2008, the Gemini Piano Trio made their debut in 2010 at Carnegie Hall, also to a sold-out house. The trio will be celebrating its 25th Anniversary in the 2020-2021 seasons as one of the few professional all-family chamber groups.
By the age of thirteen, violinist Sheng-Tsung Wang had already given his highly acclaimed solo début performing with the Bremen Symphony Orchestra of Germany. Of the concert Die Nord Deutsche marveled that Dr. Wang "performed the difficult passages with astonishing understanding, as well as interpreting the lyric qualities with sweetness, bravura, and inspired tone." As the newest member of the prestigious "President's Own" Marine Chamber Orchestra, SSgt. Wang performs regularly at the White House, as well as at highly distinguished venues in the Washington, D.C. area. Dr. Wang presented his Carnegie Hall début in 1999 with three evenings of solo and chamber performances under the auspices of the La Gesse Foundation, and returned in 2000 with the United States premiere of Peabody Director Robert Sirota's "Summermusic" for violin and piano. He has collaborated frequently with artists such as Earl Carlyss, Thomas Kraines, and the late Stephen Kates. He has been heard most recently in performances at the Austrian Embassy, the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall, as concertmaster of the North American Elite Orchestra, Smithsonian's Museum of American History, Shriver Hall, the Taiwanese Consulate, and Virginia's "Monticello". Of a concert at the French Embassy, the Washington Post admired "Wang's delicate phrasing and nuances." Dr. Wang was resident violinist of the 1999 & 2000 La Gesse Music Festival in France and Italy, and has also been featured with an interview and performance on Baltimore's CBS-affiliate TV station.
Sheng-Tsung Wang earned his Doctoral of Musical Arts (D.M.A.) degree from the University of Maryland College Park School of Music studying with the renowned string pedagogue Gerald Fischbach. Dr. Wang received his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University, where he was a student of Victor Danchenko. Previous teachers have included Elaine Mishkind, Eugene Drucker of the Emerson String Quartet, the late Mark Ulrich, and Ik-Hwan Bae. He has spent summers at the Quartet Program, Yellow Barn Music Festival, La Jolla SummerFest, and Taos School of Music, having worked with Robert McDonald, Charles Castleman, Heifetz-pupil Beverly Somach, and members of the Brentano, Chicago, and Lark String Quartets. He has also participated in masterclasses of the late Alexander Schneider, Baroque specialist Anner Bylsma and the concertmaster of the English Concert, Andrew Manze.
A recipient of many awards and honors, Dr. Wang captured first prize in Peabody's 1997 Marbury Violin Competition. While at the Conservatory on a top merit scholarship, Dr. Wang has also served as concertmaster for the Peabody Symphony and Concert Orchestras, Washington Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, the Columbia Camerata Musica, four consecutive years as concertmaster for the Maryland All State Orchestras, as well as the 1993 All Eastern Honors Orchestra. In 1992, he received the Maryland Distinguished Scholar Talent Award, and performed for Governor William Donald Schaefer. Sheng-Tsung Wang currently serves on the music faculty of Howard Community College in Columbia, MD and the Levine School of Music in Washington, D.C. He has also taught at the Peabody Conservatory, Preparatory Division and the Howard County Public School System. In addition, he actively performs with the Gemini Piano Trio and other chamber ensembles in the Baltimore/Washington area including the Eclipse Chamber Orchestra, Fessenden Ensemble, and the Fairmount String Quartet.
Sheng-Tsung Wang, violin
Hsiu-Hui Wang, piano
Dr. Hsiu-Hui Wang has enjoyed the enthusiastic applause of audiences across the United States and her native Taiwan. After a radiant performance of Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto, The Baltimore Sun admired her “graceful, buoyant” performance, adding that “there is an appealing sense of lift to her playing, which gave Beethoven’s passage work a balletic quality.” The New York Concert Review was impressed with her “remarkable pedal technique,” and praised her performance with the Gemini Piano Trio as “ardent,” as well as being “serene and “poetic.” The New Britain Herald also commented on the ardor of her playing, remarking that “watching the dramatic expressiveness with which [she] played was also a treat to behold. . . .” At the age of 19, Hsiu-Hui Wang performed from memory the monumental first book of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier in recitals at Hartt School of Music and University of Maryland at College Park. She has since appeared with the Emerson String Quartet and performed with the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, Hartt Symphony Orchestra, and New Britain Symphony Orchestra. She has also performed at the Aspen Music Festival, La Jolla SummerFest, Waterloo Music Festival, and Yellow Barn Music Festival. Dr. Wang has won numerous competitions and awards such as the Emerson String Quartet Competition, the Connecticut MTNA Competitions, the Hartford Symphony Auxiliary’s young Artist Competition, and Renee B. Fisher Piano Competition.
As a founding member of the Gemini Piano Trio, Dr. Wang has won top prizes in the prestigious Chamber Music Yellow Springs National Competition, Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) Chamber Music Competition, and the 1997 Baltimore Chamber Music Awards competition. Praised for their “amazing virtuosity” by Music Monthly, The trio has concertized extensively throughout the United States and was featured on National Public Radio. Working with esteemed artists such as Cecile Licad, Cho-Liang Lin, Ida Kavafian, and Menahem Pressler, the trio presented a concert for which The San Diego Union-Tribune hailed them as “mind readers, anticipating each other’s every move” while applauding their “almost uncanny musical closeness.” The trio has also performed guest engagements at Princeton University, Penn State University, University of Maryland College Park, the Johns Hopkins University, the Washington College, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Southern Methodist University, the Chang Jung Christian University, and Soochow University in Taiwan and was featured on National Public Radio. She also received the Honorary Citizenship from the City of Dallas, Office of Culture Affairs for her 2005 performances with the Gemini Piano Trio at the Southern Methodist University. Dr. Wang received her bachelor’s degree (summa cum laude) from the Hartt School of Music, master’s degree from the University of Southern California, and her doctoral degree in piano performance from the University of Maryland, College Park. She has studied with international artists such as Raymond Hanson, Anne Koscielny, Gabriel Chodos, Stewart Gordon, and Thomas Schumacher. Dr. Wang has also received chamber music coachings from Patricia Zander, Cecile Licad, Cho-Liang Lin, Ida Kavafian, and Menahem Pressler. Her published doctoral dissertation, “Tracing the Development of the French Piano Trio” has been recognized by Maurice Hinson and Wesley Roberts’s newest edition of The Piano in Chamber Ensemble: An Annotated Guide as well as by John H. Baron’s Chamber Music: A Research and Information Guide. Dr. Wang also gave a three-city concert tour with the Gemini Piano Trio in Taiwan to great acclaim, including a sold-out debut concert at the Taipei National Recital Hall in January of 2008. And in the fall of 2011, the Gemini Piano Trio made their debut at Carnegie/Weill Recital Hall to a sold-out house. The concert received a rave review from the late Edith Eisler.
Dr. Wang has been a dedicated teacher for over thirty years, and her students have won first prizes in various competitions, including the International Young Artist Piano Competition, and have been invited to perform at the Kennedy Center and the U.S. State Department. She has also been invited to chair and adjudicate many piano competitions and festivals. She is currently a member of the music faculty at Towson University. She also has been a music faculty member and the director of the chamber music program at Goucher College and also teaches at Howard Community College where she has been selected as the 2003-2004 Arts and Humanities Division Outstanding Adjunct Faculty Member. She was the director of the 2009-2010 Beethoven Piano Sonata Cycle, Lecture, and Masterclass Series at the Horowitz Visual and Performing Arts Center, and is also a co-founder/ artistic director of the Gemini Piano Trio Chamber Music Workshop. The 2019-2020 seasons will feature a concert, lecture, and masterclass tour in Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan.
Benjamin Myers, cello
Emotional power, sparkling technique, and a burnished tone are the qualities that have made cellist Benjamin Myers an audience favorite. The New Yorker magazine said of a concert with the Hartt Symphony in Alice Tully Hall, “The best soloist was the first cello, Benjamin Myers, who added a romantic line to the duet.” Music Monthly said of another performance that he was “riveting and delightful to behold.”
At the age of nineteen, Benjamin Myers took top prize in the 1987 Emerson String Quartet Competition which resulted in a guest appearance as the cellist of that quartet. Since then, Myers has appeared as soloist and chamber musician in major halls in America and Europe. He has given three solo and chamber performances in New York’s Carnegie Hall (Weill Recital Hall) under the auspices of the LaGesse Foundation.
As a founding member of the nationally acclaimed Gemini Piano Trio, he has taken top prizes in the 1997 Chamber Music Yellow Springs National Competition, MTNA Chamber Music Competitions, the 1997 Baltimore Chamber Music Awards Competition and its subsequent Year 2000 Winners Competition. The Gemini Piano Trio’s first CD was praised by The American Record Guide which noted, “There is an admirable balance between confidence, polished technique, and impulsive, romantic ardor in this performance.” Along with their first disc, music from their second disc can be heard on radio stations nationwide.
Dr. Myers has the distinction of being the first person ever to earn a doctoral degree in cello performance from the highly selective program at the New England Conservatory where he also earned his master's degree. He earned a bachelor's degree (summa cum laude) from the Hartt School of Music. He has studied with David Finckel of the Emerson Quartet, and soloists David Wells and Colin Carr. He has also played in masterclasses for cellists such as Steven Doane and Yo-Yo Ma. Myers has also appeared as principal cello of many orchestras, including the Aspen Concert Orchestra, Concert Artists of Baltimore, and the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra.
Dr. Myers is a full Professor and the Lead Coordinator of Music at Howard Community College where he has taught for over twenty years, and also has been a member of the music faculty at Goucher College. Myers is a highly sought-after teacher, and his students have attended major conservatories and music departments such as Peabody Conservatory, Mannes College of Music, and University of Maryland Music School, among others. His students have become major touring artists, educators, as well as advocates for the arts.