Meet our NEW faculty here
Doctor of Musical Arts
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, US
Master of Music in Piano Performance
Boston Conservatory of Music
Bachelor of Music
Tainan National University of the Arts in Taiwan
Po-Chuan Chiang
Po-Chuan Chiang, a native of Taiwan, performs nationally and internationally. Dr. Chiang has worked with many performers, both instrumental and vocal, in multiple styles and genres. During the summer, Dr. Chiang worked as a pianist for the opera program Scuola Italia in Sant’Angelo in Vado, Italy, Interlochen Center for the Arts, and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. In 2018, he performed in the winners concert of the American Protégé Competition in the Chamber Music category at Carnegie Hall. Dr. Chiang currently works as a staff accompanist at Western Illinois University.
During the first two years of study at University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, Dr. Chiang was granted a prestigious accompanying assistantship with the vocal, brass and string divisions for student lesson and recitals. He then was offered a highly-coveted opera accompanying assistantship supporting singers in main stage operatic productions at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. He also served as the pianist for both the University of Illinois Wind Orchestra and Wind Symphony.
Dr. Chiang has extensive experience in the realm of musical theater. He has worked with Champaign-Urbana Theatre Company, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville Champaign Central High School and Parkland College Theater as rehearsal pianist and keyboard/synthesizer in performances.
Po-Chuan holds a Bachelor of Music Degree in Piano performance from the Tainan National University of the Arts in Taiwan. In 2009, he received a Masters of Music Degree in piano performance at the Boston Conservatory of Music where he was hired as a staff accompanist at the same year after he graduated. In 2017, he earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance under Dr. Ian Hobson at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Samuel Gingher
Doctor of Musical Arts
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Master of Music in Piano Performance
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Master of Music in Piano Pedagogy
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Bachelor of Music
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Dr. Samuel Gingher serves as Assistant Professor of Piano Pedagogy and Class Piano at East Carolina University, with previous faculty appointments at Northern Arizona University, Millikin University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Bradley University. His research interests include classical piano improvisation pedagogy and the discovery and performance of rare masterworks. Dr. Gingher’s world-premiere recordings of piano trios by Carl Czerny (with Sun-Young Shin and Benjamin Hayek) and four-hand piano fantasies (with Pei-I Wang) can be heard on the Naxos label.
Dr. Gingher has been the winner of several competitions and recipient of many awards, including the Krannert Debut Artist Award, first prize in Brevard Music Festival’s International Solo Piano Competition, first prize in WVU’s Intersection between Jazz and Classical solo piano festival competition, the 21st Century Piano Commission Competition at UIUC, and concerto competition winner at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the LaGrange Symphony Orchestra Young Artist’s concerto competition in Georgia, to highlight a few. He has performed and taught in piano and chamber music festivals in North Carolina, Michigan, Illinois, California, Arizona, West Virginia, Austria and Switzerland, and has played in a variety of new music, chamber and jazz groups. Dr. Gingher was the keyboardist in Urbana-Champaign’s local jazz group, Almost “A” Quintet for many years. Dr. Gingher is an active member of MTNA and has frequently served as a clinician and adjudicator for ISMTA conferences in Illinois, Arizona and New Mexico.
Dr. Gingher has additional experience as a composer, arranger and free-lance audio engineer, having served as producer for albums on the Naxos, Centaur, Albany and Pacific Media labels. Sam holds a DMA in Piano Performance and Literature, MM in Piano Pedagogy and MM in Piano Performance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and BM in Piano Performance from UNC-Chapel Hill. His former piano teachers include Timothy Ehlen, Thomas Otten, Edmund Paolantonio and Constance Kotis.
Cristian Neacsu
Doctor of Musical Arts
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Master of Music
University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music
Bachelor of Music
Andrews University
Bachelor of Arts
National University of Music, Bucharest
Romanian-born violinist Cristian Neacsu currently maintains a private studio in the eastern suburbs of Seattle and serves as an examiner with the Royal Conservatory of Music. With over 20 years of teaching experience, including 10 years in post-secondary education in North America, Cristian has worked with students of all levels and ages.
His students have received accolades at many national and international competitions and festivals such as From the Top NPR, Singapore International Violin Competition, ENKOR Int'l Music Competition, San Francisco International Innovative Music Competition, King's Peak International Competition, Quebec Music Competition, Stanford Summer Orchestra, Music Fest Perugia Italy, Mimas Music Festival Italy, Bach Festival International, PAFE, American Protege, Grand Prize Virtuoso, and Golden Classical Awards among others.
Many of Cristian’s students have successfully completed the RCM Level 10 exam and have gone on to attend institutions such as the University of Washington, West Point, University of California, New York University, Santa Clara University, University of Calgary, Loma Linda University, Southern Adventist University, and the University of South Africa. Several younger students have been accepted into private schools including Lakeside School, The Overlake School, The Bear Creek School, BASIS Independent, St. Thomas School, and Seattle Country Day School, as well as various gifted and advanced academic programs.
Over the years, Cristian has prepared many students for various orchestra auditions, including SYSO, BYSO, WMEA All-State, and local school ensembles. Several of his students have held or currently hold leadership positions in these orchestras.
Cristian’s educational background has been foundational to his teaching. Trained in both Europe and North America, he studied at the prestigious National University of Music in Bucharest, the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Cristian’s professional collaborations have further enriched his education, allowing him to work with distinguished musicians such as Stefan Milenkovich, Piotr Milewsky, Herbert Bloomstedt, Sherban Lupu, Berick Yehonatan, Carla Trenchyuk, Kurt Sassmannshaus, Guillaume Tardif, Claudio Gonzalez, among others, and with renowned ensembles like the Jupiter Quartet and the Pacifica Quartet.
Cristian performs on a 1792 Venetian violin crafted by Pietro Valentino Novello.