The Department of Music presents clarinetist Natalie Groom and pianist Hui-Chuan Chen, whose program Composers Unheard, Composers Celebrated spotlights works for clarinet and piano that have been previously under appreciated. The performance will include works by Marie-Elisabeth von Sachsen-Meiningen, a Prussian princess; Mojgan Misaghi, a member of the Iranian Female Composers Association; Ke-Chia Chen, professor at Curtis Institute of Music; Fazil Say, world-renowned Turkish piano soloist; and Gwyneth Walker, a prolific American composer known primarily for her choral works.

The complete program:
Marie-Elisabeth von Sachsen-Meiningen (1853-1923) — Romanze (1892)
Mojgan Misaghi (b. 1991) — Till Monday (2021)
Ke-Chia Chen — Song of the Wanderer (2008)
Fazil Say (b. 1970) — Sonata, Op. 42 (2012)
Gwyneth Walker (b. 1947) — Buffalo Gals and Other Songs (2006)

Natalie Groom enjoys a multi-hyphenate career as a performer, educator, composer and arts manager in Maryland where she is the clarinet professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and Towson University. She has toured China with the Fed Fox Quintet and performed with the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet, Annapolis Symphony, Annapolis Opera, and Tucson Symphony. A few of her performance career highlights include being a featured soloist with the White Mountain Symphony Orchestra and performing at the Kennedy Center, AMP by Strathmore, New World Center, The Anthem, Phillips Collection, Austrian and Spanish Embassies and Goethe-Institut.

She has made numerous contributions to The Clarinet journal, and she is co-inventor of the single reed micrometer, Reed Mapper®. Natalie particularly loves where music intersects activism. In 2018, she and soprano Jennifer Piazza-Pick founded Whistling Hens to perform and commission music by women composers, and create a financially and artistically equitable future for women in music.

A native of Taiwan, Hui-Chuan Chen began piano lessons at age four and made her debut performance at six. As a successful soloist, chamber musician, collaborative pianist and educator, Hui-Chuan has traveled and performed widely throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. For her solo performance, she has won numerous prizes at competitions including the Wonderlic piano competition in Baltimore, Concerto Competition of International Music Festival in Siena, Italy, Kaohsiung City Competition, Kawai Piano Competition, the University Piano Concerto Competition of NTNU, Taiwan.

As a chamber musician, she performed at Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and Supreme court of the United States. She worked with accomplished musicians such as cellist Amit Peled and Flutist Demarre McGill. Hui-Chuan holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University where she is also a faculty member in the preparatory division. She also serves on the faculty of the University of Maryland Baltimore City, Washington Conservatory of Music and the Heifetz International Music Festival in Virginia.