David Oei (; surname pronounced "Wee", born 1950) is a Hong Kong-born American classical

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

Biography

Oei was born in Hong Kong, into a family that had emigrated from Amoy (

Xiamen Xiamen ( , ; ), also known as Amoy (, from Hokkien pronunciation ), is a sub-provincial city in southeastern Fujian, People's Republic of China, beside the Taiwan Strait. It is divided into six districts: Huli, Siming, Jimei, Tong'an, ...

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capi ...

in 1934 to open a branch of The China & South Sea Bank founded by his Chinese-Indonesian great grandfather Oei Ik-Tjoe (

黃 Radical 201 or radical yellow () meaning "yellow" is one of the 4 Kangxi radicals (214 radicals in total) composed of 12 strokes. In the ''Kangxi Dictionary'', there are 42 characters (out of 49,030) to be found under this radical. The ''xin zix ...

奕住; pinyin: Huang Yizhu). In Hong Kong, he began studying classical piano at the age of four with Tu Yuet-Sien ( 屠

月 Radical 74 or radical moon () meaning "moon" or " month" is one of the 34 Kangxi radicals (214 radicals in total) composed of 4 strokes. In the ''Kangxi Dictionary''. there are 69 characters (out of 49,030) to be found under this radical. is ...

仙). At age 9, after winning eleven first prizes at the Hong Kong Music Festival, he was a soloist with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. At age 10, he immigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

by winning a full scholarship to study with

Mieczysław Munz Mieczysław Munz (October 31, 1900, Kraków – August 25, 1976) was a Polish-American pianist. Munz trained in Vienna and Berlin, with Ferruccio Busoni. He was a teacher of Emanuel Ax, Walter Hautzig, David Oei, Ann Schein, Virginia Reinec ...

at the

Peabody Conservatory The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University is a private conservatory and preparatory school in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded in 1857 and opened in 1866 by merchant/financier and philanthropist George Peabody (1795–1869) ...

and later accepted a full scholarship to study with Munz and Ilona Kabos at the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most el ...

from 1964 to 1972, leaving a year short of graduation to perform with Peter Schickele as a member of The Intimate P. D. Q. Bach until 1985. Schickele regularly introduced him to the audience as having "a

black belt Black Belt may refer to: Martial arts * Black belt (martial arts), an indication of attainment of expertise in martial arts * ''Black Belt'' (magazine), a magazine covering martial arts news, technique, and notable individuals Places * Black B ...

in piano". During that same period he also founded the Aspen Soloists, a

piano trio A piano trio is a group of piano and two other instruments, usually a violin and a cello, or a piece of music written for such a group. It is one of the most common forms found in classical chamber music. The term can also refer to a group of musi ...

that toured extensively under CAMI management. He attended the Interlochen Music Camp from 1963 to 1967 and won the concerto competition in each of those five years. He also won the Concert Artists Guild, WQXR Young Artists, Young Musicians Foundation, and

Paul Ulanowsky Paul Alexander Theodore Ulanowsky (March 4, 1908, Vienna – August 4, 1968, New York, NY) was an Austrian-American pianist, accompanist, vocal coach, and music educator of Austrian Jewish and Ukrainian-Jewish descent. He began his career as the p ...

Chamber Pianists competitions. He became a

naturalized Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

U.S. citizen Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Constituti ...

on November 20, 1985. Oei made his first appearance on U.S. network television on February 22, 1966, on one of the famous ''

Young People's Concerts The Young People's Concerts with the New York Philharmonic are the longest-running series of family concerts of classical music in the world. Genesis They began in 1924 under the direction of "Uncle" Ernest Schelling. Earlier Family Matinees had b ...

'' conducted by

Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...

(the episode was entitled "

Pictures at an Exhibition ''Pictures at an Exhibition'', french: Tableaux d'une exposition, link=no is a suite (music), suite of ten piano pieces, plus a recurring, varied Promenade theme, composed by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky in 1874. The piece is Mussorgsky's ...

". Oei has performed with such major orchestras as the New York Philharmonic,

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra The ''Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra'' (''PSO'') is an American orchestra based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The orchestra's home is Heinz Hall, located in Pittsburgh's Cultural District, Pittsburgh, Cultural District. History The Pittsburgh Sy ...

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Baltimore SO has its principal residence at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, where it performs more than 130 concerts a year. In 2005, it bega ...

Orchestra of St. Luke's The Orchestra of St. Luke's (OSL) is an American chamber orchestra based in New York City, formed in 1974. Orchestra of St. Luke’s presents over 70 concerts, programs, and events in a variety of diverse musical genres every season, including an ...

, and the

Orpheus Chamber Orchestra The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra (founded 1972) is a classical music chamber orchestra based in New York City. They have won several Grammy Awards. The orchestra is known for its collaborative leadership style in which the musicians, not a conducto ...

. In addition, he has performed with

The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS) is an American organization dedicated to the performance and promotion of chamber music in New York City. It is the largest organization of its kind in the country for chamber music. CMS's home is ...

and is also noted as a performer of the works of

P. D. Q. Bach P. D. Q. Bach is a fictional composer invented by the American musical satirist Peter Schickele, who developed a five-decade-long career performing the "discovered" works of the "only forgotten son" of the Bach family. Schickele's music combines ...

. He appeared on television in

, as well as on '' The Today Show'' and ''

CBS News Sunday Morning ''CBS News Sunday Morning'' (normally shortened to ''Sunday Morning'' on the program itself since 2009) is an American news magazine A news magazine is a typed, printed, and published magazine, radio or television program, usually published ...

''. He has recorded for the ADDA, Arabesque,

CRI CRI or CRi may refer to: Organizations * Canadian Rivers Institute, for river sciences, University of New Brunswick * Cancer Research Institute, New York, US * Centro de Relaciones Internacionales (International Relations Center), Universidad Nac ...

Delos The island of Delos (; el, Δήλος ; Attic: , Doric: ), near Mykonos, near the centre of the Cyclades archipelago, is one of the most important mythological, historical, and archaeological sites in Greece. The excavations in the island are ...

, Albany, Grenadilla,

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...

, Festival Chamber Music, Pro Arte, and

Vanguard The vanguard (also called the advance guard) is the leading part of an advancing military formation. It has a number of functions, including seeking out the enemy and securing ground in advance of the main force. History The vanguard derives fr ...

labels. He is the founding director of the Salon Chamber Soloists and a member of the Festival Chamber Music, Friends Of Mozart and the Elysium and Ecliptica Chamber Ensembles. He is a member of a duo with the Korean-born violinist

Chin Kim Chin Kim (born 1957) is a Korean-born American classical violinist, largely educated in the United States through the Juilliard School, and the Curtis Institute of Music. Activities Chin Kim performs extensively throughout the North America, Euro ...

, with which he has recorded and gives annual concerts. He has performed in a piano duo (performing music for piano four hands as well as for two pianos) with Helene Jeanney. Oei has taught at Hoff-Barthelson Music School in Scarsdale, New York and in the Preparatory Division at Mannes College of Music. He has taught at Summertrios and the Bennington Chamber Music Conference. A former regular fixture at

Chamber Music Northwest Chamber Music Northwest (CMNW) is an American non-profit organization in Portland, Oregon that is dedicated to the performance and promotion of chamber music. The organization's main presentation is its annual five-week Summer Festival, that occurs ...

and

Bargemusic Bargemusic, formally known as ''Bargemusic, Ltd.'' is a classical music venue and cultural icon in Brooklyn. Founded in 1977, it is housed on a converted coffee barge moored at Fulton Ferry Landing on the East River near the Brooklyn Bridge. Hi ...

, he has performed at various festivals including

Sitka russian: Ситка , native_name_lang = tli , settlement_type = Consolidated city-borough , image_skyline = File:Sitka 84 Elev 135.jpg , image_caption = Downtown Sitka in 1984 , image_size ...

, Caramoor, OK Mozart,

Washington Square Music Festival Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, and Kuhmo. He has served as an affiliated teacher at the

State University of New York at Purchase The State University of New York at Purchase (commonly Purchase College or SUNY Purchase) is a public liberal arts college in Purchase, New York. It is one of 13 comprehensive colleges in the State University of New York (SUNY) system. It was fo ...

and he was the Volunteers Coordinator and Head Coach for the

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

Special Olympics. Beginning in the mid-1980s, Oei also served for five years as the Music Director and Production Advisor for Music-Theatre Group's productions of

Stanley Silverman Stanley Silverman (born July 5, 1938, in New York City) is an American composer, arranger, conductor and guitarist. Silverman's diverse career covers music theatre, film, television, classical and pop music. His work has featured on stages acros ...

and

Richard Foreman Richard Foreman (born June 10, 1937 in New York City) is an American avant-garde playwright and the founder of the Ontological-Hysteric Theater. Achievements and awards Foreman has written, directed and designed over fifty of his own plays, b ...

's ''Africanis Instructus'' and ''Love and Science''. In July 2001 he served as the Music Director for the Sundance Theater Workshop production of the opera '' Yiddisha Teddy Bears'' (with score by

Stewart Wallace Stewart Wallace (born 1960, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American composer and cantor. Biography The son of Marsha J. Wallace and Dr. Sidney Wallace, Wallace is one of three siblings in his family. Wallace attended the University of Texas ...

and libretto by Richard Foreman). Oei became a member of the Alaria Chamber Ensemble in 2009. In April 2015, Oei was arrested and charged with inappropriate fondling of one of his piano students, a 15-year-old girl, in his mid-town home in New York City. He was suspended by the New School within days afterwards. In November 2015, Oei accepted a plea bargain with a requirement for mental health treatment for 2 years. Oei lives in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

with his wife, the violinist Eriko Sato.

Discography

*1974: '' The Intimate P. D. Q. Bach'': John Ferrante (

countertenor A countertenor (also contra tenor) is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range is equivalent to that of the female contralto or mezzo-soprano voice types, generally extending from around G3 to D5 or E5, although a sopranist (a s ...

), David Oei (piano) Vanguard *1978:

Karel Husa Karel Husa (August 7, 1921 – December 14, 2016) was a Czech-born classical composer and conductor, winner of the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for Music and 1993 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition. In 1954, he emigrated to t ...

Sonata: Elmar Oliveira (violin), David Oei (piano) New World *1980: PDQ Bach ''

Liebeslieder Polkas ''Liebeslieder Polkas'' is an album of the music of Peter Schickele under his comic pseudonym of P. D. Q. Bach. It describes itself as "the first opus of P.D.Q. Bach to be discovered in which he inflicted his music on the work of well-known poets, ...

'': David Oei (piano), Anne Epperson (piano) Vanguard *1984: Peter Schickele Clarinet Quartet: Eriko Sato (violin),

Fred Sherry Fred Sherry (born 1948) is an American cellist who is particularly admired for his work as a chamber musician and concert soloist. He studied with Leonard Rose at the Juilliard School before winning the Young Concert Artists International Auditions ...

(cello), David Shifrin (clarinet), David Oei (piano) Vanguard *1989: Schumann & Grieg: Sonia Wieder-Atherton (cello), David Oei (piano) ADDA *1989: David Schiff: ''Gimpel the Fool'': Theodore Arm (violin), Warren Lash (cello), David Shifrin (clarinet), David Oei (piano) Delos *1990: Miriam Gideon Retrospective: Patricia Spencer (flute), David Oei (piano) New World *1993: Prokofiev Violin Sonata No. 2: Chin Kim (violin), David Oei (piano) Pro Arte *1995:

Alec Wilder Alexander Lafayette Chew Wilder (February 16, 1907 – December 24, 1980) was an American composer. Biography Wilder was born in Rochester, New York, United States, to a prominent family; the Wilder Building downtown (at the "Four Corners") ...

Works For Horn: David Jolley (horn), David Oei (piano) Arabesque *1997: Old Friends:

Christopher Lee Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. In a long career spanning more than 60 years, Lee often portrayed villains, and appeared as Count Dracula in seven Hammer Horror films, ultimat ...

(violin), David Oei (piano) Quattro Corde *2004: Karel Husa Recollections: Quintet of the Americas, David Oei (piano) New World *2005: Donald Crockett Ceiling Of Heaven: Renee Jolles (violin), Nicolas Cords (viola), Edward Aaron (cello), David Oei (piano) Albany *2007: Strauss and Rachmaninoff Sonatas: Ruth Sommers (cello), David Oei (piano) FCM *2008: The Lay of Love and Death of the Cornet Christoph Rilke by Viktor Ullmann: David Oei (piano), Lutz Rath (speaker) *2010: Five Not-So-Easy Pieces: David Oei (piano), Eriko Sato (violin) Prestissimo

References

External links

David Oei biography
from Festival Chamber Music site

from Summertrios site

from Hoff-Barthelson Music School site
IMDB entry on New York Philharmonic Young People's Concerts, 22 February 1966
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oei, David 1950 births Living people American classical pianists American male pianists American musicians of Chinese descent Classical piano duos Hong Kong emigrants to the United States Musicians from New York City 20th-century American pianists Classical musicians from New York (state) 21st-century classical pianists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century American pianists