Jay Peng Chieh Sun
Xinghai Conservatory of Music, Guangzhou, Morningside Music Bridge Advisory Council
Born in Taiwan, raised and educated in the United States, and now in his forties, Jay Pengjie Sun is widely recognized as one of the pillars of the Chinese musical community and a specialist in the development of young artists from their very first lessons all the way to the international concert stage. Since joining the faculty of China’s Xinghai Conservatory in Guangzhou two decades ago, he has become a much sought after pianist and pedagogue, with concerts and lectures in every major Chinese city and his students having taken prizes at Cleveland, Hilton Head, E-Piano, Geneva, Weimar-Liszt, Michelangeli, Sendai, Saint Cecilia, Ettlingen, Zhuhai Mozart and distinguishments at Cliburn, Chopin, Busoni, Beethoven, Hamamatsu, Paderewski, Sydney and more – quite a few before the age of eighteen!
Recent concert tours of China have included The Complete Transcendental Etudes of Liszt which Music Weekly described as “a ferocious yet poetically delicate execution of a marvelously stunning feat.” He is also an avid chamber musician and has collaborated with esteemed musicians such as Agata Szymczewska, Atar Arad, Clara Kim, Liu Xiao, Ma Kaiyi, Nikki Chooi, Noah Bendix-Balgley, Tian Bonian, Timothy Chooi, Xin Yi, Xin Xin, Yao Shanshan, Yu Wei, Zhu Mu, Zvi Plesser, as well as frequent piano duo collaborations with his wife Vivian Li.
Sun is also a devoted writer with regular columns in China’s two leading music periodicals: “Piano Artistry” exploring special topics such as systematic training of piano technique, science of tone production, efficient practice methodology, neuroscience of memorization, and teaching psychology; and “Music Weekly” chronicling his life and musings as a pianist and teacher. He has also published a best-selling set of method books “Primo” which to date has guided over 20,000 young students on their musical journeys.
Sun’s principal teachers include Nancy Weems, John Weems and Horacio Gutierrez. He also credits several summers at the Aspen Music Festival with pianist Ann Schein as deeply influential to his development. In his formative years, he held a broad range of interests which led to his graduation from the University of Houston with degrees in music and computer science. He is regular guest faculty at Morningside Music Bridge Festival, Perugia Musicfest, Philadelphia Young Pianists Academy, Todi Music Masters, Tanglewood Institute and currently serves as co-chair of the piano departments at Xinghai Conservatory Middle School and International College in addition to his position on the Morningside Music Bridge Advisory Council.
