Isabelle Hsiao

Isabelle received a Master of Music in Piano Performance degree from Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University at Bloomington, and a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance degree from the Eastman School of Music at University of Rochester in New York. She studied with Dr. Marina Lomazov at Eastman, and Professor Jean-Louis Haguenauer at Jacobs. Isabelle was the recipient of Graduate Tuition Award & Artistic Excellence Award from Jacobs School of Music; and Eastman Artist Scholarship, Wallace Robert Gray Scholarship, Howard Hanson Tuition Scholarship, and Dean’s Honor List (2021 & 2022) from Eastman School of Music.

Winner of many top prizes and thrice a performer at Carnegie Hall in New York, pianist Isabelle Hsiao was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts and grew up in California and Texas. She began piano lessons at age 4 with her mother. Isabelle studied with Professor Anton Nel (University of Texas at Austin) during her middle and high school years, and with Dr. Timothy Woolsey, Emeritus Professor of Piano at Texas State University during her middle school years.

The prizes and awards Isabelle has won include: Gold Medal from AADGT International Young Musicians’ Festival Competition (American Association for Development of the Gifted and Talented), Passion of Music, 2016; First Place Prize from American Protege International Competition of Romantic Music, 2016; First Place Prize from Golden Era of Romantic Music International Competition, American Fine Arts Festival, 2016; Gold Medal from International Chopin Youth Competition, 2013; First Place Prizes from DeBose National Piano Competition, 2013 & 2014; First Place Prize from Texas State Young Artist Competition, 2016; First Place Prize from Baylor Piano Competition, 2016; Gold Medal from University Interscholastic League Piano Solo Contest, 2016; and many others, such as MTNA/TMTA Performance Contest, and Wednesday Morning Music Club Scholarship Competition. Isabelle also received all Gold Medals from the Texas Music Teachers Association’s annual Theory Test, 2008-2018, and received the Mansfield Senior Gold Medal Award in June 2018.

Isabelle was a full-scholarship student and also a member of the Merit Scholarship Ensemble at Austin Chamber Young Artists Academy, where she also served as the Music Ambassador from 2014 to 2017. She was awarded full scholarships to attend summer music festivals at MERIT from Music Academy of the West, Texas State International Piano Festival, and Baylor Summer Piano Institute. She was also awarded a scholarship by the American Fine Arts Festival to attend summer music courses in Germany in 2017 (declined). Isabelle was a teaching assistant for advanced piano classes at Westwood High School, where she served as President of the Piano Club. During her junior and senior years in high school, Isabelle was the first and only pre-college student to perform solo recitals twice at the Bates Recital Hall at Butler School of Music, University of Texas at Austin.

Isabelle has participated in internationally renowned summer music festivals, including Aspen Music Festival and School (2016 & 2017), and Music@Menlo Chamber Music Festival and Institute (2015). During her summer studies at Aspen Music Festival and School in 2016 and 2017, Isabelle performed at the Spotlight Recitals (selected by a panel of judges) multiple times, and was chosen to have a master class with Hung-Kuan Chen at the Harris Concert Hall. She studied at Académie Orford Musique (Orford Music Academy/Festival) in Quebec, Canada in the summer of 2018.

Currently, Isabelle serves as the Artistic Director and Advisor of the Rêve de Musique organization founded in 2019 by a group of young musicians at Austin, TX.