Gemini Piano Trio
About Us
Members of the Gemini are additionally all acclaimed soloists
The San Diego Union-Tribune hailed them as “mind readers, anticipating each
other’s every move” while applauding their “almost uncanny musical closeness.”
The New York Concert Review by late Edith Eisler referred to 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, as the the prestigious Chamber Music Yellow Springs National Competition, Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) Chamber Music Competition, and the 1997 Baltimore Chamber Music Awards competition. At La Jolla Chamber Music Society's SummerFest, the trio worked with the great artists of our time such as Raymond Hanson, Cecile Licad, Cho-Liang Lin, Joseph Kalichstein, David Finckel, Wu Han, Ida Kavafian, Gilbert Kalish, and Menahem Pressler.
The trio was featured on National Public Radio, and has concertized extensively throughout the United States and performed guest engagements at universities such as Princeton, Penn State, Johns Hopkins, and Soochow University in Taiwan. 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. In addition to recording for Ulrich and Arabesque Records, the trio will be celebrating its 30th Anniversary in the 2024-2025 season as one of the few professional all-family chamber groups.
Violinist Sheng-Tsung Wang gave his solo debut at the age of thirteen, performing with the Bremen Symphony Orchestra of Germany. Of the concert, Die Norddeutsche marveled that Wang “performed the difficult passages with astonishing understanding, as well as interpreting the lyric qualities with sweetness, bravura, and inspired tone.” He presented three evenings of solo and chamber performances in Carnegie Hall in 1999, under the auspices of the La Gesse Foundation. A more recent performance at Carnegie Hall with the Gemini Piano Trio was reviewed by notable New York City music critic Edith Eisler, who praised that the performers, “with such a high level of unanimity and rapport...were concerned only with the music, and used their technical command and tonal variety entirely in its service.”
Sheng-Tsung Wang earned his Doctoral of Musical Arts degree from the University of Maryland School of Music at College Park. He received his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Peabody Conservatory, where he won the Marbury Violin Competition as a student of Victor Danchenko. Previous teachers have included Elaine Mishkind, Eugene Drucker of the Emerson String Quartet, Ik-Hwan Bae, and Mark Ulrich. As a chamber musician, Dr. Wang spent summers at the Yellow Barn Music Festival, La Jolla SummerFest, Taos School of Music, and Castleman Quartet Program.
As Associate Concertmaster of "The President’s Own” Marine Chamber Orchestra, Gunnery Sergeant Wang performs regularly at the White House and other distinguished venues in the Washington, D.C. area. He has performed solo and orchestral works under the baton of guest conductors including Giancarlo Guerrero, Bramwell Tovey, and JoAnn Falletta. Dr. Wang has previous and current teaching positions at the University of Maryland School of Music at College Park, the Peabody Conservatory, Preparatory Division, and Howard Community College in Columbia, MD.
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.”
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.
As a founding member of the Gemini Piano Trio, Dr. Wang also received Honorary
Citizenship from the City of Dallas, Office of Culture Affairs for her 2005 performances
with the Gemini Piano Trio at 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. She has also given concert, masterclass, and lecture tours in Malaysia,
Singapore, and Taiwan.
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, Carnegie Hall, and
the U.S. State Department. She has also been invited to chair and adjudicate many
piano competitions and festivals. She currently teaches at Towson University and at
Howard Community College where she was selected as the 2003-2004 Arts and Humanities
Division Outstanding Adjunct Faculty Member. She has taught and directed the chamber music program at Goucher College and was the co-director of the 2009-2010 Beethoven Piano
Sonata Cycle, Lecture, and Masterclass Series, featuring pianist, Anne Koscielny, at the Horowitz Visual and Performing Arts Center, and is also a co-founder/ artistic director of the
Gemini Piano Trio Chamber Music Workshop.
She will be giving a début concert in the fall as the founding member of the new Trio ToUché
(piano six hands) at Towson University.
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.