Performances by Andy Hudson have been hailed as “a treat for the listener” and have been praised for “an uncommon singularity of purpose, technical virtuosity, youthful vigor and a mature sensitivity.” He has appeared in Carnegie Hall’s ‘Weill Recital Hall,’ at Chicago’s ‘Symphony Center,’ and at the World Congress of the International Alliance for Women in Music, College Music Society conferences in both Canada and the US, and gatherings of the International Clarinet Association in Los Angeles, Orlando, Knoxville, and Ostend, Belgium. Andy won top honors at the 2008 MTNA National Senior Woodwind Competition and has received other prizes in the National Collegiate Solo Competition, the Vandoren Emerging Artists Competition, the Luminarts Foundation Fellowship Competition, and the Ariel Artists ‘Impact Performance’ Competition. Andy has recently performed as guest principal clarinet of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra and the North Carolina Opera, and he was appointed Bass Clarinet/III Clarinetist of the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra in 2020. Other festival appearances include the Lucerne, Bang on a Can, Sewanee, Hot Springs, and Great Lakes Chamber Music festivals.

A noted interpreter of contemporary music, Andy has premiered and commissioned dozens of works to date and has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on their MusicNOW series, at the New Music Gathering, and with Ensemble Dal Niente, the Chicago Composer’s Orchestra, and the Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition’s Grossman Ensemble (with whom he is featured on the 2020 release FOUNTAIN OF TIME). In 2018, he was clarinetist for the workshop performance of Augusta Read Thomas’s opera “Sweet Potato Kicks the Sun,” sponsored by the Santa Fe Opera. Andy also performs with the Zafa Collective and earspace, and was a founding member of the trio F-PLUS. Andy is clarinetist with the mixed sextet Latitude 49, which recently released its sophomore album WAX AND WIRE on New Amsterdam Records. Latitude 49 has held residencies at Princeton University and Baylor University, and has been the recipient of grants from the Barlow Endowment, the Fromm Foundation, Chamber Music America, and the Aaron Copland Fund.

Andy is currently Assistant Professor of Clarinet at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and each summer joins the Artist-Faculty of the Tennessee Valley Music Festival. Previously, he held teaching positions at Northwestern University and Lake Forest College, and he has been the North Carolina State Chair for the International Clarinet Association since 2019. Andy earned his DMA in Clarinet Performance with a Cognate Certification in Music Theory from Northwestern University, where he also earned his Master of Music degree. He earned his Bachelor of Music degree from Columbus State University’s Schwob School of Music. His primary teachers have included Steve Cohen, J. Lawrie Bloom, and Lisa Oberlander. Andy is an Artist-Clinician for Buffet Crampon and an Ambassador for Rovner Products. He performs exclusively on Buffet clarinets and Rovner ligatures.

When he’s not practicing, Andy enjoys running, reading, playing guitar, eating local food, watching baseball, and collecting obscure instruments.

Hailed for her “brilliant pianism” (Gramophone) and “acrobatic” performances (Take Effect), Taiwanese-American pianist Annie Jeng has performed widely as a solo and chamber musician at the Brancaleoni International Music Festival in Italy, the Gijón International Piano Festival in Spain, the Kennedy Center, New York City, China, and at numerous academic institutions as a guest artist. As an advocate for pushing the boundaries of traditional performances, Annie has performed and curated concerts at breweries, parking deck rooftops, intimate living room settings, and other unconventional spaces, all with the aim of making the arts more accessible and interdisciplinary. Annie has presented at Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) conferences at collegiate, state, and national levels, The National Conference of Keyboard Pedagogy (NCKP), and College Music Society (CMS) conferences. She is the current President of Greensboro Music Teachers Association (GMTA) and serves on the board for the North Carolina Music Teachers Association (NCMTA). During summers, she is the Assistant Director of Piano for the Brancaleoni International Music Festival (brancaleonifestival.com(opens in new window)) in Piobbico, Italy.

Annie has commissioned and premiered dozens of new works. She is the pianist of Khemia Ensemble (khemiaensemble.com(opens in new window)), a contemporary chamber ensemble that is dedicated to promoting contemporary classical music by cultivating inclusive place-making, collaborative mentorships, and authentic storytelling through immersive, multimedia performances. She also released the album “World Map” with Parma Recordings as the former pianist of Four Corner’s Ensemble. Her latest commissioning project, Circles and Lines, consists of new pedagogical works by women composers that introduces contemporary piano techniques to intermediate pianists. As a strong believer in creating a better and more equitable “normal” in the piano community, she also founded A Seat at the Piano (ASAP) in the summer of 2020 (aseatatthepiano.com(opens in new window)). ASAP is a 501(c)(3) that is dedicated to the promotion of inclusion in the performance and study of solo piano repertoire. In collaboration with the Frances Clark Center for Keyboard Pedagogy, she has co-created an online course on women composers, been invited to speak on panels, present workshops, and serves on the Career Develop and Innovation subcommittee chair for NCKP.

Annie received her DMA in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Michigan, where she also received her MM. She earned her BM in Piano Performance with a minor in Public Health from New York University. Her primary teachers have included Logan Skelton, José Ramón Mendez, Miyoko Lotto, Anne-Marie McDermott, and Faye Bonner. She is currently Assistant Professor of Piano and Piano Pedagogy at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. (Let’s connect online: www.anniejeng.com(opens in new window))