About
A versatile keyboardist, Xuan He has performed in venues across four continents. He has been featured as a soloist with Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra, Northwestern Philharmonia, Northwestern Baroque Music Ensemble, Wratislavia Chamber Orchestra, and Bowling Green Philharmonia. An avid collaborative pianist and harpsichordist, he has appeared with orchestras and ensembles in the U.S., Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and collaborated with members of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Essen Philharmonic. Early keyboard performances include Huis te Port Young Talent Harpsichord Series in Schiedam (Netherlands), International Concert Working Weeks (Germany), and organ performances include concert series at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and the King’s Chapel in Boston. He has been heard in radio broadcasts on WFMT Chicago and Radio New Zealand.
He has been a prize winner at many piano competitions, including Kerikeri International Competition in New Zealand, Wideman International Piano Competition, the MTNA Young Artist Competition (East Central Division), Thaviu-Isaak Piano Scholarship Competition, St. Petersburg Lira International Music Festival and Competition in Russia, ZhongSin International Music Competition in Singapore, Kawai China National Piano Competition. With his interpretations of Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 and Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3, he won the first prize in concerto competitions at Northwestern University and Bowling Green State University respectively.
He has participated and performed in music festivals including Aspen Music Festival and Bowdoin International Music Festival. In Europe, he has appeared in international music festivals in Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, and Spain, where he performed both as soloist and with chamber ensemble and orchestra. He has worked with renowned pianists such as Kirill Gerstein, Klaus Hellwig, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Robert Levin, Menahem Pressler, Murray Perahia, among others. In Boston, he worked regularly with Rodger Vine, the last American pupil of Maurice Duruflé.
He studied piano with Alan Chow at Northwestern University where he received his Doctor of Musical Arts and Master’s of Music with a cognate in musicology. At Northwestern, he also studied organ with Margaret Kemper, harpsichord and conducting with Stephen Alltop, and received the program honor given to an outstanding graduate. At Bowling Green State University, he studied piano with Robert Satterlee and organ with Vernon Wolcott, and was awarded the J. Paul Kennedy Music Achievement Award given to the most outstanding graduate. A student of Menno van Delft and Richard Egarr, he spent a year studying fortepiano and harpsichord in Amsterdam.
After serving Saint Cecilia Parish in Boston as the organist for two years, he now lives in Montréal and is pursuing his JD/BCL dual law degree at McGill University Faculty of Law. He also maintains an online piano studio. For lesson request, please fill out the contact form.