Musical Tapas Piano Trio Concert

Selections from piano trios around the world will be performed and paired with food represented from each country in the program.

Franz Schubert – Piano Trio No. 2 in E-flat Major, D. 929
II- Andante un poco mossa

Franz Joseph Haydn – Piano Trio No. 39 in G Major, “Gypsy”, Hob. XV: 25
IV- Finale: Rondo all’Ongarese. Presto

Bright Sheng (b. 1955) – Four Movements for Piano Trio
III

Mark O’Connor (b. 1961) – Poets and Prophets
I- Man in Black
II- The Tennessee Two

Anton Arensky – Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 32
III- Elegia. Adagio

Astor Piazzolla – Four Seasons
Otoño Porteño (Autumn)
Invierno Porteño (Winter)
Verano Porteño (Summer)

Sarah Hansen, cello; Katie Cousins, violin; Mickey Chien, piano

Mickey Chien is an accomplished solo pianist who has won top prizes in the Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition in New York and the Kankakee Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition in Illinois. Also active as a collaborative artist, he has performed throughout the United States and Asia, including appearances at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York, the National Recital Hall in Taiwan, and the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts in Illinois. In 2012, he won the Sydney Wright Collaborative Piano Competition. In 2012, he served as guest soloist and collaborative pianist at the Clear Creek Festival in Oregon and as opera coach at the Illinois Lyric Theatre, working with conductor Eduardo Diazmuñoz and renowned tenor Nathan Gunn.
Mr. Chien currently serves as a Collaborative Pianist at Bradley University and as a faculty member at the Performing Art Institute at Wyoming Seminary in Pennsylvania, where he teaches piano masterclasses and group piano classes in addition to coaching chamber ensembles each summer. In 2012 and 2013, he served as Chair of the Champaign Chapter of the Music Teacher National Association. In 2016, he has formed Estampes Musician in Peoria and Champaign-Urbana area, and give masterclasses, performances, and clinics in high schools and universities.
Mr. Chien earned his Bachelor of Music degree from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, and his Master of Music degree in Piano Performance from the University of Texas at Austin. He is currently a candidate for a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance and Literature, with a cognate in a Piano Pedagogy, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Mickey currently resides in the Peoria, Illinois area, where he enjoys making friends with dogs and playing badminton.

Violinist Katie Cousins is a versatile performer and teacher with a passion for an enormous range of musical styles. She has been featured on stages across the U.S. and Europe, and is dedicated to making both classic and new music accessible to a diverse population.
Currently based in Chicago, Katie is a member of the Peoria Symphony. Throughout her musical career, she has also enjoyed performing as a part of the Heartland Festival Orchestra, Chicago Arts Orchestra, the Chicago Composers Orchestra, the Waterbury Symphony, the New Britain Symphony, the Hartford Opera Theater Orchestra, and the Spirit of Broadway Theater outside of New York, among others.
With a special passion for chamber music, Katie has been fortunate enough to spend time in Europe sharing masterpieces of the chamber repertoire with international audiences. She is currently a member of the Living Room Players, a chamber music collective based in Oak Park, and has worked with members of the Emerson, Pacifica, and St. Lawrence String Quartets. In the fall of 2011, she co-founded Isosceles​, a violin-saxophone-piano trio with which she toured across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern U.S.
​Katie holds a Master of Music and a Graduate Professional Diploma in Violin Performance from the Hartt School in Hartford, Connecticut. While there, she developed a special interest in contemporary music, leading to her performances with the Hartt School Contemporary Ensemble and the 016 New Music Ensemble, also based in Hartford. In addition, she has had the opportunity to work with great living composers such as William Bolcolm, Jennifer Higdon, and John Corigliano.
​Before completing her graduate studies at Hartt, Katie received a Bachelor of Science in Music Education from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She is a strong advocate for the development and strengthening of music programs in schools across the U.S., and has been teaching in private, small group, and classroom settings for over 14 years.
When not performing or teaching, Katie can often be found traveling with loved ones in tow, a good book in hand, and a camera at the ready.

Sarah Hansen is a young and upcoming artist based in Chicago, Illinois. She began her musical education in her hometown of Cincinnati and has since studied and collaborated with leading musicians across the country. Her playing has been featured on stages around the world, from Chicago’s Symphony Center to the Sydney Opera House.
Sarah regularly performs with ensembles throughout the midwest; including the Illinois Symphony, the Quad City Symphony, the Chicago Composers’ Orchestra, the Peoria Symphony, and the Southwest Michigan Symphony. In the 2016-17 concert season, she also appeared as a featured soloist with the Salt Creek Chamber Orchestra, the Bradley University Symphony Orchestra, and on Christ’s Church of Kettering’s Joyful Sounds Series.
In the Fall of 2015, Sarah joined the music faculty at Bradley University in Peoria, IL, where she teaches cello and performs with the faculty new-music chamber ensemble, Peoria Lunaire. Sarah also maintains a private cello studio in Chicago; her students range in level from beginner to pre-professional and in age from elementary school to retirement. She has previously served on faculty at the Chicago School of Music and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp.
A dedicated ambassador for the partnership among performers, audiences, and communities, Sarah frequently presents educational concerts, programs, and discussions in a variety of venues and settings. In 2014, she lead a seminar at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago for doctors and medical students looking to better understand the physical demands and challenges facing modern performing artists.
Sarah is a graduate of DePaul University’s School of Music, where she received her Master of Music degree, and The Hartt School of Music, where she earned her Bachelor of Music degree and was a Laureate in the prestigious Van Rooy Competition for Musical Excellence. Her primary teachers included Stephen Balderston, Mihai Tetel, and Tom Guth.
Outside of performing and teaching, Sarah spends her time training for her next marathon or triathlon. She also dabbles in art and enjoys exploring Chicago’s many cafés, restaurants, and sidewalk libraries.