Menghua Lin
Pianist Menghua Lin is known for her expressive artistry and musical depth, both as a soloist and collaborative musician. A native of Taiwan, she began piano studies at age four and has since built an international career across Asia, Europe, and North America. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including top prizes from the Pittsburgh Concert Society, Steinway Society of Western Pennsylvania, PTMA Piano Competition, Chautauqua Music Festival Concerto Competition, and YAMAHA Piano Competition.
Her performances have brought her to major festivals and venues worldwide, such as the Suolahti Music Festival (Finland), Amalfi Music and Art Festival, Music Fest Perugia (Italy), Prague International Master Classes (Czech Republic), TCU/Cliburn Piano Institute (USA), and the Chautauqua Music Festival. She has appeared as soloist in Bach’s Keyboard Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052, with the Carnegie Mellon Baroque Ensemble and Mozart’s Piano Concerto in A major, K. 488, with the Perugia Fest Orchestra at the Basilica of San Francesco d’Assisi. In 2018, she gave her solo debut at the National Concert Hall in Taipei and was featured in the concert series at Chatham University.
A devoted advocate of contemporary music, Menghua performed all three piano sonatas by American composer Lowell Liebermann at the University of Illinois and was later invited to speak at the Composer’s Forum. Her performances have been featured on WQED (Pittsburgh), RTHK Radio 4 (Hong Kong), and WBLV Blue Lake Public Radio (Michigan).
Menghua is equally passionate about chamber music and interdisciplinary collaboration. She is currently a collaborative pianist at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Santa Clara University. She has performed with the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic, Chautauqua Music School Festival Orchestra, Blue Lake Festival Orchestra, and worked with COLAB, a project merging music, dance, and engineering. In 2019, she co-founded the Shoreline Piano Trio with violinist Sue-mi Shin and cellist Katie Youn. The trio has performed widely in the Bay Area, including Old First Concerts in San Francisco, Music at Noon at Santa Clara University, and Fortnightly Music Club concerts.
Menghua holds a DMA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she studied with Ian Hobson, a Leeds International Piano Competition winner. She also earned an MM from Carnegie Mellon University under Hanna Wu Li, and a Professional Studies Diploma from the Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with Nina Svetlanova, a pupil of Heinrich Neuhaus.
She served as piano faculty at Carnegie Mellon University Pre-College Division and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, and was named Distinguished Faculty by the Community School of Music and Arts in 2025.