Aiyun Huang

Percussion

The ever-evolving Aiyun Huang enjoys a musical life as a soloist, chamber musician, conductor, producer, and teacher. She was the First Prize and Audience Award winner at the Geneva International Music Competition in 2002. She has appeared at the Weill Recital Hall, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra’s Green Umbrella Series, LACMA Concert Series, Holland Festival, Victoria Hall in Geneva, Agora Festival in Paris, Banff Arts Festival, 7éme Biennale d’Art Contemporaine de Lyon, Vancouver New Music Festival, CBC Radio, La Jolla Summerfest, Scotia Festival and National Concert Hall and Theater in Taipei. In 2004, she gave a solo European tour in the cities of Paris, Geneva, Lyon, Budapest, and Milano. In both 2007 and 2008, she was a featured percussionist at the Internatioal Cool Drummings festival in Toronto. She is a founding member of the Canadian trio Toca Loca with pianists Gregory Oh and Simon Docking. Her 2009-2010 concert appearances include the cities of Milan, Berlin, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Vancouver, San Diego, Singapore and Taipei.

She has commissioned and championed over 100 works in the fifteen years working with composers internationally. Her recent world premieres include Big Bang! by Canadian composer Andrew Staniland, Cepheid Variables by Canadian composer Michael Oesterle, Schappchenjagd by American composer Peter Edward, and Canadian premiere of View From Olympus by John Psathas.

Aiyun is a researcher at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology (CIRMMT) in Montreal. She is the first faculty member from the Performance Department at McGill to receive a research grant from Fonds de recherche sur la société et la culture (FQRSC). Her current projects include “Saving Percussion Theatre”, a DVD project which will be released on Mode Records in 2011.

Aiyun was born in Kaohsiung, a city in the southern part of Taiwan. She holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree from the University of California, San Diego. Between 2004 and 2006, she was a Faculty Fellow at UCSD. Currently, she is the Chair of the Percussion Area as well as director of the McGill Percussion Ensemble at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University in Montreal, Canada.