Grace Fong
Grace Fong, D.M.A., is the American Director of Keyboard Studies at Chapman University Conservatory of Music and has an active solo and chamber music career. She also performs as part of the Selvaggi Trio.
Fong grew up in Bakersfield, California. Her parents are immigrants from Taiwan. During the course of her undergraduate studies at the University of Southern California, Fong completed a double major and minor; she was awarded the Renaissance Scholar Prize, and was named "The USC Thornton School of Music Keyboard Department’s — Most Outstanding Student B.M." Fong is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music where she studied with Sergei Babayan who describes Fong as "not only a true artist and an exciting virtuoso, but a sensitive poet who can speak about the most important of subjects through the craft of her hands."
Fong is a prize winner in international competitions including the 2006 Leeds International Piano Competition in the United Kingdom, the 2007 Bosendorfer International Piano Competition, the 2006 San Antonio International Piano Competition, the 2006 Viardo International Piano Competition, and the 2005 Cleveland International Piano Competition.
Fong was named a finalist of the 2008-2009 Classical Fellowship Awards of the American Pianists Association, and invited to perform a series of concerts by the APA. She also won the 1997 Grand Prize in piano from the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts and was thereafter named a "Presidential Scholar in the Arts", and was presented a medallion by President Clinton at the White House. She later was the 2003 Gold Medalist for the Wideman International Piano Competition. Other prizes include the winner of the Music Academy of the West Concerto Competition, the winner of the 2002 Cleveland Institute of Music Concerto Competition, 1st Prize in the 2000 Los Angeles International Liszt Competition, and 1st Prize in the 2000 Edith Knox Performance Competition.
