Former U of A Professor Returns for Guest Artist Concert

Noted for his "elegant poetry and virtuosic fire," Alan Chow is returning to the U of A to perform a piano recital on Friday, June 5, 2026, at 7:30 p.m. in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall. The concert is free and open to the public. 

A Steinway artist, Chow has performed in recital and in concert with orchestras in nearly all 50 states. His recitals have brought him to the major music centers including New York City (Lincoln Center, Merkin Hall, Steinway Hall); Boston; Los Angeles; Chicago (Symphony Center and Ravinia); Washington, D.C.; Cleveland; Seattle; Atlanta; New Orleans; and Miami. Concerto performances include appearances with the National Symphony, Utah Symphony, Oakland Symphony, Tulsa Philharmonic, Kansas City Symphony and Omaha Symphony. Chow regularly tours Asia with performances in China, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore, including performances with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Shanghai Philharmonic and the Pan-Asia Symphony. An avid chamber musician, he has collaborated with the American, Pacifica, Miami and Escher String Quartets and has been guest artist at the Grand Canyon Chamber Music Festival, Juneau Jazz and Classics, San Juan Islands Chamber Music Festival, Kent Blossom Music Festival, Texas Music Festival, Music Festival of Arkansas and Music Mountain. In addition, he appears in joint recital engagements in the Cheng-Chow Trio with pianists Angela Cheng and Alvin Chow.

Appointed guest professor at the Central Conservatory in Beijing and honored visiting professor at the Shenyang Conservatory, he has also presented recitals, master classes and lectures in China at the conservatories in Shanghai, Chengdu, Xian and Wuhan. An adjudicator at national and international competitions, he currently serves as the permanent chair of jury at the New Orleans International Piano Competition.

Chow studied with Nelita True at the University of Maryland, where he graduated Co-Valedictorian with his twin brother, Alvin, and received the Charles Manning Prize in the Creative and Performing Arts given to the outstanding graduate; with Sascha Gorodnitzki at The Juilliard School, where he was awarded the Victor Herbert Prize in Piano; and with Menahem Pressler at Indiana University, where he was the recipient of the Joseph Battista Memorial Scholarship. He also studied at the Mozarteum Sommerakademie with Carlo Zecchi.

Previously having served on the faculty of the U of A and Northwestern University, Chow is currently professor of piano and chair of the Piano Department at the Eastman School of Music.