Performer Biography

Jiānà Péng

Born in Sichuan, China, Jiānà Péng made her orchestral debut with the Cleveland Pops Orchestra in Severance Hall playing Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major at the age of 16. She has since performed with Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, and the Philharmonic Orchestra of University of Alicante (Spain) under the batons of Carl Topilow, Kimbo Ishii-Eto, and Uri Segal. She has made appearances in numerous festivals, including Music Fest Perugia (Italy), PianoTexas International Festival (Fort Worth, Texas), Duszniki Piano Master Course (Poland), Katowice International Piano Masterclass (Poland), and Dubrovnik Summer Music Festival (Croatia).

Ms. Peng has won American Open Music Competition, Nice Cote d’Azur International Piano Competition, the Cleveland Pops Orchestra Music Scholarship Competition, and the Cleveland Institute of Music Concerto Competition. She was awarded CIM’s 2013 Dr. Joseph and Bess Scharff Leven Prize in Piano and full scholarship for young artist program at PianoTexas International Festival and Academy in 2015. She is also a winner of the finalist award in the 2016 New York International Piano Competition and 2019 Tuesday Musical Scholarship in Piano. She recently received CIM’s 2018 “The William Kurzban Prize in Piano” for her outstanding artistic developments. Ms. Peng has started her artistic collaboration with the world-renowned Portuguese pianist Maria João Pires in summer 2019. They launched and performed together the first edition of the itinerary festival “Days of Wisdom” in Cervia de Ter, Spain. She was also invited to share stages in recitals with Ms. Pires in Belgais, Portugal. Ms. Peng is an advocate for contemporary works and appeared on numerous composition department recitals at Cleveland Institute of Music. She world premiered American composer Pat Pace’s “Suite for Piano” in 2016, whose recording of the performance was broadcasted on WCLV 104.9 Ideastream. She also serves as a keyboardist and accompanist at the Fairmount Presbyterian Church in Cleveland Heights.

Ms. Peng has performed in master classes with Dang Thai Son, Maria João Pires, Kevin Kenner, Andreas Staier, William Nabore, Piotr Paleczny, Jerome Lowenthal, Arnaldo Cohen, Tamas Ungar, Nikita Mndoyants, Leon Fleisher, John Perry, Ilana Vered, and Lee Kum Sing. She received her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music under the guidance of Antonio Pompa-Baldi and Haesun Paik. She is currently pursuing her Artist Diploma and Oberlin-Como fellowship at the Oberlin Conservatory studying with Stanislav Ioudenitch.