Dr. Ko — Top Pianist for Hire in SF Bay Area

Born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Dr. Chuan-Li Ko graduated from Texas Tech University where he obtained his DMA in Piano Performance. He also holds the Associate, Licentiate and Fellowship (special candidate award) Diplomas in Piano Performance, awarded by the Trinity College of London. Through his eight years of graduate studies in the US, Dr. Ko has studied with many renowned pianists in the US such as William Westney, Daniel del Pino, Norman Krieger, Elizabeth Pridonolf, Donna Lee, Anton Niel, Asaf Zohar, and Marina Lomazov. He was also a recipient of scholarships and graduate teaching assistantships awarded by several institutions, in which he was appointed to teach Keyboard Skills, Music Theory, and Ear-Training class.

Dr. Ko has performed extensively as a soloist and vocal and instrumental collaborative pianist at various setting such as recitals and competitions. His most recent collaborations in the past couple of years include “Dream of Flowery Pursuit” his debut collaboration with Chinese instruments at DPAC Malaysia, “Around the World in 6 Hands and 88 Keys” at National Taichung Theater (Taiwan), “A Feast of Pianistic Wonders” where he shared the stage with another 3 pianists alongside the KLPAC orchestra, “Connecting the Dots” - a percussion-piano duo recital at DPAC (Malaysia), “Music of the Night” in which he was featured as a soloist presenting Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21, “Rach’d” - a joint recital featuring only Rachmaninov’s piano works and art songs at Esplanade Recital Studio (Singapore), “Mikado" with James Madison University Opera (United States), and Saint-Saëns's Organ Symphony with Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra.

In spite of the global pandemic, Dr. Ko has been ardently involved in many projects and music competitions nationally and internationally. His recent achievements and contributions to the field include winning the Best Student Essay for 2021 Global Music Summit and emerging as the 1st runner-up of Charleston Music Festival 2020. Also, he virtually premiered Pump#5 for Percussion and Piano Duo at Music by Women Festival and Hot Air Music Festival respectively, written by Professor Dana Kaufman from University California at Riverside. In addition to that, Dr. Ko was also invited to present several topics in webinars, one of them being the ‘Emotional Expression in Classical Music’ hosted by Discussion et Rationalité. The presentation revolved around the importance of logicality in music performance. He discussed substantially how critical thinking and planning facilitate the process of emotional expression from the theoretical and performance perspectives, which is one of the aspects he highly values in piano teaching.

Dr. Ko is also a member of the Debonair Malaysia, a four-piano ensemble group, as well as Klaviercussion, a percussion-piano duo ensemble. He founded the duo group Klaviercussion with the aim of elevating public interest and appreciation for percussion-piano ensemble literature and modern music. Dr. Ko has a great passion for music teaching. He believes that music serves as a joy-seeking tool that will benefit students in a long run.