Alvin Chow

  • Professor of Piano
  • Chair, Piano Department

Areas of Study

Education

  • BM, University of Maryland at College Park, 1979
  • MM, Juilliard School, 1981
  • Doctoral Studies, Indiana University, 1981-89 

Biography

Alvin Chow has appeared throughout North America and in Asia as an orchestral soloist and recitalist. In addition, he has performed extensively in duo-piano recitals with his wife, Angela Cheng, and his twin brother, Alan.

A native of Miami, Florida, he graduated summa cum laude and co-valedictorian at the University of Maryland, where he was a student of Nelita True. Chow received the Victor Herbert Prize in Piano upon graduation from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Sascha Gorodnitzki, and held the Joseph Battista Memorial Scholarship at Indiana University as a student of Menahem Pressler.

Chow was the first Fulbright College Visiting Artist in Piano at the University of Arkansas during 1987-88. He later taught at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Since 1999, he has been a member of the artist faculty at Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he is currently chair of the Piano Department and the Ruth Strickland Gardner Professor of Music.

Chow has performed in major concert halls including the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.; Orchestra Hall in Chicago; Weill and Steinway Halls in New York City; and the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. 

He has presented as recitalist in Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Seattle, Denver, Detroit, and Miami, and has appeared as soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Alabama Symphony Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Pan-Asia Symphony in Hong Kong, and the Mozarteum Orchestra in Salzburg, among others.

Chow has won first prize in competitions such as the Civic Orchestra of Chicago Young Soloists Competition, the National Symphony Young Soloists Competition, and the Indiana University Concerto Competition, as well as prizes in the University of Maryland International Piano Competition, the New York Piano Teachers Congress International Piano Competition, and the MTNA Collegiate Artists Competition.

He has been heard on National Public Radio’s Performance Today and on CBC Radio in Canada. He has also been invited to be the convention artist for the state MTNA conferences in Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, and Ohio.  In 2011, a CD of music for four and six hands, recorded with Angela Cheng and Alan Chow, was released by Arioso Classics. It features music by Brahms, Dvorák, Ravel, Milhaud, Corigliano, and Copland.

Chow has presented numerous master classes and lectures throughout the United States and abroad, including the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Taichung University in Taiwan, Colburn School in Los Angeles, Indiana University, University of Michigan, University of Texas, and Northwestern University, among others.

He has been a member of numerous competition juries, including the New Orleans International Piano Competition, the Iowa International Piano Competition, the Jacksonville International Piano Competition, MTNA Student Competitions (national finals), the Sorantin Young Artist Competition, the International Piano e-Competition (screening), the Hilton Head International Piano Competition (screening), and the Cooper International Piano Competition at Oberlin.

Spring 2025

Principal Private Study - Piano — PVST 001

Secondary Private Study - Piano — PVST 051

Performance Ensembles (Artist Diploma) — APST 600

Performance Project (Artist Diploma) — APST 601

Piano Ensemble — APST 810

Fall 2025

Principal Private Study - Piano — PVST 001

Secondary Private Study - Piano — PVST 051

Senior Honors in Piano Performance — APST 400

Performance Ensembles (Artist Diploma) — APST 600

Performance Project (Artist Diploma) — APST 601

News

Pianist Jiongli Wang to Perform with Oberlin Chamber Orchestra

May 2, 2024

On Friday, May 3, the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra performs a program that will showcase Concerto Competition winner Jiongli Wang in Frédéric Chopin’s First Piano Concerto, as well as fourth-year composition student Cashel Day-Lewis in the premiere of his Black River Prelude commissioned by Oberlin Conservatory in honor of the Lorain County Bicentennial.

Explore Related Departments