Helen Cha

Hailed as a “deeply expressive” pianist in Music and Vision, Helen Cha is the Music Director of Musica del Cuore and the Artist-In-Residence at Academia de Música S. Pio X.

Beginning her career as a talented pedagogue at age 22, Cha was formerly teaching assistant in aural musicianship and studio piano assistant to Nelita True at Eastman School of Music. At age 26 she became Coordinator in Performance Studies and Lecturer at Hong Kong Baptist University Department of Music, and from 2014 she focused her research on mindfulness, physical tensions and injuries, with more intensive clinical work with community students from Hong Kong and Macau.

She has given workshops, lectures and masterclasses presented by local universities, Music Office (LCSD), “Invitation to Music” Summer Camp (HKAPA), Hong Kong Professional Piano Education Academy, Hong Kong Piano Music Association, View Arts International, and the Hong Kong International Piano Performance and Education Conference. She serves as an adjudicator for local and international competitions, as well as juries at professional institutes. She is the presenter of “Chamber Fragrance”, “Debussy Recollection” and “Non-Stop Classics” on Radio Television Hong Kong, and a featured performer on Hong Kong Sinfonietta’s Gold Record “This is Classical Music 3” (2014), among other projects. In 2021 January her first book commission and CD album for Macanese composer and pedagogue Castro Aureo was released in Macau.

The first student from Hong Kong to be awarded the Fellowship in Piano Performance (with distinction) by the Associated Board Royal Schools of Music in 2003, Helen Cha has proven herself a strong young artist, giving concerts in USA, UK, Italy, Austria, Belarus, Moldova, South Korea and mainland China, collaborating with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Moldova National Chamber Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Pan Asia Symphony Orchestra and other local ensembles. She appeared at Fête de la Musique, Shenzhen Piano Music Festival, ISCM World Music Days, Taipei - Hong Kong Week, Le French May, HKS ArtisTree Residency, and the Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival. A demanded soloist and collaborator on cross-disciplinary programs, Cha has taken part in Hong Kong Sinfonietta’s “McDull Music Project 2” (2007), Balanchine’s “Rubies” by the Hong Kong Ballet (2008), Allen Lam’s solo dance “Pulsars: Between Infinity and Nothingness” (2018), and was on tour with Helen Lai’s “Rite of Spring” and the City Contemporary Dance Company (2019).

Entering the HKAPA Junior division at age 9, Cha became an awardee of Jockey Club Scholarship during college, and finished her Bachelor Degree with first class honours in 2005 under Gabriel Kwok. Subsequently awarded the Hong Kong Jockey Club Music and Dance Fund Scholarship, she earned the Performer’s Certificate, Masters respectively in Piano Performance and Theory Pedagogy, and her Doctorate of Musical Arts at the Eastman School of Music. She was appointed the Master and Doctorate Marshals respectively in 2009 and 2010 by the Dean.

Source: DDPR