MuUyas Chamber Music
was formed because of their passion, enthusiasm and love for the chamber music repertoire. MuUyas means ‘making music’ in the dialect from Seediq, one of fourteen Taiwanese aboriginal tribes. Together, they hope to share their love for the chamber music repertoire and to continue the great traditions of playing chamber music that has been passed down for centuries. Previously known as the Alpaca String Quartet formed in 2012, the founding members for MuUyas are violinist Yu-Hao (Howard) Chang, violist Po-Chun (Gene) Chen, and cellist Wen-Hsuan (Vivian) Su. Western Classical Music has long been a part of the Taiwanese culture; it is common for children in a Taiwanese family to learn some sort of Western Classical instruments. The multicultural aspect of Taiwanese culture allowed these musicians to grow and meet halfway across the globe from their birth country to come together to form the MuUyas Chamber Music. Their goals of sharing their love for the chamber music repertoire with more people and making classical music more accessible to all had them starting to organize and perform throughout the United States, Canada, and Taiwan.
Highlight in their recent seasons include performances throughout the New England Area in the United States, the Greater Toronto Area in Canada and in Taiwan including performances in the National Theater & Hall and National Taichung Theatre, as well as collaboration with the Hartt School Dance Division and the Bowen McCauley Dance Company performing in both the Hartt School and DC’s Historic Lansburg Theatre. Besides performing as the MuUyas String Trio, and collaboration with the dancers, MuUyas has collaborated with many musicians, such as Judith Mendenhall, Bonita Boyd, Chewon Park, and Megan Chang.
Artists
Violin
Yu-Hao (Howard) Chang
Taiwanese aboriginal violinist Yu-Hao (Howard) Chang has a wide variety of performing experiences. He has performed as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral musician. He concertized and participated in recitals and music festivals in Taiwan, Japan, Canada and the United States. Mr. Chang is adept at presenting different genres of music from classical, to contemporary, world music, and pop music. Mr. Chang has also arranged several different Taiwanese Aboriginal folk tunes to solo violin and various different chamber ensembles. In 2010, he performed as a soloist with Evergreen Symphony Orchestra at the National Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall in Taipei. He received a Bachelor of Music from the Taipei National University of Arts under the instruction of Nancy Tsung, and he continues his post graduate studies at The Hartt School, where he received a Master of Music in violin performance. Currently, he is pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts in violin performance as a student of Anton Miller and serves as a violinist in the Performance 20/20 Honors Chamber Music Program at The Hartt School.
Viola
Po-Chun (Gene) Chen
Taiwanese-Canadian Violist Po-Chun (Gene) Chen began studying music by learning to play the piano and violin in Taiwan before moving to Ontario, Canada, where he found his passion for viola and chamber music. Mr. Chen has performed as a soloist, orchestral musician, and chamber musician in recitals, concerts, and festivals in the United States, Canada, and Taiwan. With his true passion for chamber music, Mr. Chen is one of the founding members of the Alpaca String Quartet and the MuUyas Piano Quartet. He is also a dedicated music educator and has taught violin, viola, and piano since 2007. As an innovator in Suzuki Pedagogy, he is finding creative ways to incorporate chamber music with into that discipline. Mr. Chen holds a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from the University of Toronto, a Graduate Professional Diploma in Viola Performance, and a Master of Music in Suzuki Pedagogy from The Hartt School. He studied Suzuki Pedagogy under Teri Einfelt and studied viola with Rita Porfiris, earning a Master of Music in Viola Performance.
cello
Wen-Hsuan (Vivian) Su
Taiwanese-Canadian cellist Wen-Hsuan (Vivian) Su is an active soloist, chamber musician, orchestral musician, and a dedicated music educator. She has performed in recitals and music festivals in the United States, Poland, Taiwan, China, Canada, and Germany. As a music educator, Ms. Su has taught cello at music schools in Taiwan and the United States. She has also been invited to give chamber music master classes in many schools. She received Suzuki Cello Pedagogy training in the United States under Nancy Hair. With a passion for chamber music, She is one of the founding members of the Alpaca String Quartet and the MuUyas Piano Quartet. Ms. Su received her Bachelor of Music in cello performance from National Chiayi University in Taiwan. She continued her postgraduate studies at Pennsylvania State University, where she received a Professional Performance Certificate. Ms. Su holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in cello performance at The Hartt School, where she also received her Master of Music and a Graduate Professional Diploma in cello performance.
Violin
Wan-Ting (Olivia) Yang
Taiwanese-Canadian violinist Wan-Ting (Olivia) Yang, a sought-after soloist, has performed recitals across Taiwan. As concertmaster, she has toured Argentina and Israel with the Orchestra of Taipei National University of the Arts. Ms. Yang’s collaboration with Kuo Chih Yuan Music Association, Taiwan, as a guest soloist has performed at over 100 concerts since 2009 in the United States and Germany, where she performed music by Taiwanese composers Kuo Chih Yuan and Tyzen Hsiao in venues such as Haus Hofmannsthal, Vienna, Gasteig Kleiner Konzertsaal, Munich, Alte Borse, Leipzig, Laeiszhalle Studio E, Hamburg, and Konzerthaus Berlin. Ms. Yang was the winner of the Taipei National University of the Arts Emerging Young Artists Competition (2008) and the Concertmaster of the Hart House Orchestra, University of Toronto (2018-2019), and a violinist with Orchestra Toronto (2018-2019). Apart from performing, Ms. Yang is a passionate advocate for building community through music education and currently is the concertmaster with Music4Life Ensemble, a non-profit community string orchestra. Ms. Yang began studying piano and violin at a young age. She studied violin performance under Gregory Lee and graduated with honours at Tunghai University, Taichung City, Taiwan. She later studied under Nancy Tsung and received her Master's degree from Taipei National University of the Arts in Taiwan.