Collaborative Pianists

Jacob Coleman

A native of Athens, Georgia, pianist Jacob Coleman is Assistant Professor of Piano and Collaborative Piano at the University of Kentucky School of Music. As a collaborator, Dr. Coleman has performed with artists such as Franklin Cohen, William Ludwig, Jeff Nelsen, Leone Busye, Nancy Ives, Frederick Burchinal as well as the Kenari Quartet. As a vocal coach he has held staff positions with the University of Georgia Opera Theater and the Astoria Music Festival.  He has served as the official pianist for the Mid-South Flute Fest in 2016 and 2017. Other collaborative engagements include the North American Saxophone Alliance and International Double Reed Society conferences. 

He comes to the University of Kentucky from the University of Southern Mississippi, where he directed the Collaborative Piano Program and created a new doctoral degree. From 2014-2016, he served as Visiting Assistant Professor of Collaborative Piano at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. During the summer, he is a member of the piano staff at the Meadowmount School of Music founded by Ivan Galamian. Dr. Coleman holds degrees from The University of Texas at Austin (DMA, Collaborative Piano), University of Oregon (MM, Collaborative Piano), and University of Georgia (BM, Piano Performance). His primary teachers were Richard Zimdars, David Riley, and Anne Epperson.

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Cecilia Lo-Chien Kao

Taiwanese Pianist Cecilia Lo-Chien Kao enjoys performing in a wide variety of settings, which includes chamber music, opera, orchestral ensembles, new music ensembles and choral music. She has collaborated with many distinguished artists including Lynn Harrell, Stefan Jackiw, Robert McDuffie, Bion Tsang, Gerardo Riberio, David Coucheron, Jennifer Stumm, and many members of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.

Kao is Assistant Professor of Professional Practice and Collaborative Piano Artist at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. She is also the collaborative piano coordinator at the prestigious Meadowmount School of Music in Westport, New York. She has been a collaborative pianist at Columbus State University and Mercer University in Georgia, where she worked with students of the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings.

She has appeared at Carnegie Weill Hall and can be heard with cellist Bion Tsang on his CD The Blue Rock Sessions . She was also a member of the Boulder Altitude Directive, a modern music ensemble dedicated to commissioning and performing new music, during their inaugural season. Cecilia has received fellowships for both the Aspen School of Music and the Music Academy of the West, where she studied with Jonathan Feldman. She also was a chamber music artist at the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival in Florida.

Kao holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Collaborative Piano from the University of Colorado Boulder and a Master of Music degree in Collaborative Piano from the University of Texas at Austin, where she studied with the pioneer pedagogue, Anne Epperson. Prior to her move to the U.S., she was one of the first pianists to receive the Master of Arts degree in Collaborative Piano from National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei, where she also received her bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance. Her principal teachers include Anne Epperson, Margaret McDonald, Alexandra Nguyen, Elizabeth Pridgen, Chi-Chen Wu, and Shu-Cheng Lin.

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Greg Hankins

Pianist Greg Hankins is a collaborator at the University of Georgia where he is on staff for the UGA Opera Theatre. His recital partners have included members of the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, The Canadian Brass, Metropolitan Opera, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Cleveland Symphony, Boston Symphony, Sao Paulo Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Sydney Symphony, and solo artists and faculty of universities and conservatories around the world. Greg leads the Whitehall Jazz Collective, an 8-piece ensemble specializing in contemporary jazz. Since 2012, he has served on the faculty of the New York State Summer School for the Arts.