Piano Open House

            A native of Belgium, Steven Vanhauwaert was hailed by the Los Angeles Times’ Mark Swed for his “impressive clarity, sense of structure and monster technique.”  Since then, Mr. Vanhauwaert has appeared in solo recitals at the world’s leading venues, including the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Concertgebouw in Bruges, the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing, and the Shanghai Oriental Arts Center. He has appeared with orchestras such as the Pacific Symphony, the Flemish Symphony, the Lviv Philharmonic, Sinfonietta Sofia, the Reno Chamber Orchestra, Kyiv Kamerata, and the International Chamber Orchestra of Puerto Rico.

            Many of Mr. Vanhauwaert’s performances have been broadcast live on networks such as CBS, PBS, K-MZT, K-USC, K-PFK, K-NCJ, W-FMT, and RTBF. He was also a featured guest in a documentary on creativity for the German/French channel ARTE. He is the co-director of the Unbound Chamber Music Festival in Mammoth Lakes, a 3-week long summer festival featuring guest artists from around the world. He also serves as the Artistic Director for the Second-Sundays-at-Two recital series in Rolling Hills, CA.

            Mr. Vanhauwaert is passionate about discovering the less familiar jewels of the repertoire. He has championed works by Joseph Woelfl, Éric Tanguy, Magnus Lindberg, Thomas Adès, Steve Reich, Ferruccio Busoni, Erwin Schulhoff, and Viktor Ullman.

            He is frequently invited to give lecture recitals and masterclasses at prestigious universities throughout the world, including the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music in Tel Aviv, New York University at Abu Dhabi, the Colburn School, the University of Tennessee, the University of Louisiana, the Jerusalem Music Center, the University of Connecticut, the University of California at Los Angeles, California State University at Long Beach, and California Institute of the Arts.

            He is the recipient of the Maurice Lefranc award, the Galiot Prize, and the Grand Prize at the 2004 Los Angeles International Liszt Competition. His discography covers a wide range of composers, from Woelfl and Liszt to Stravinsky, Mansurian and Éric Tanguy. He has recorded on the Hortus, Sonarti, ECM, and Bridge labels. His recordings have garnered praise in the international press; several of his albums have received 5 diapasons in France, the Coup de Coeur on France Musique, 5 stars in the Pizzicato Magazine, and a nomination for the International Classical Music Awards. He serves as Assistant Professor on the faculty at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Mr. Vanhauwaert is a Steinway Artist.

            For more information, please visit www.stevenpiano.com.

Pianist Tomoko Kashiwagi finds great joy in playing diverse repertoire she encounters as a performer and as an educator. Kashiwagi has BM and MM degrees from Indiana University in Piano Performance (solo), however she knew from early on that she truly enjoys interacting with other musicians. Kashiwagi is the first recipient of the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Collaborative Piano from the University of Texas at Austin. In 2021, she established a new chamber music series, Chamber Music on the Mountain, at Mount Sequoyah Center in Fayetteville, AR to share her passion for chamber music with the NWA community.

Kashiwagi is frequently invited as the official pianist for conferences, competitions, and festivals throughout the United States. Kashiwagi joined the faculty at the University of Arkansas- Fayetteville in 2012. Currently Kashiwagi is the Assistant Professor of Piano and Collaborative Piano and holds the Emily J. McAllister Endowed Chair.

Bulgarian-American pianist Miroslava Panayotova has made numerous appearances as recitalist and concerto soloist in the United States, Canada, Bulgaria, Russia, Slovakia, Romania, and Mexico. As well, she has appeared at such music festivals as the Beverly Hills International Music Festival in California, Music by Women Festival in Mississippi, the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival in Vermont, XXI Festival Dr. Alfonso Ortiz Tirado in Mexico, the Orford Festival in Canada, SHE: A Festival of Women in Music in Arkansas, and others. Recent concerto performances include appearances with the Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra, University of Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, The Florida Orchestra, the Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra, and The Arizona Symphony Orchestra.

Dr. Panayotova’s repertoire encompasses various styles, including contemporary music and premiere performances of both solo and ensemble works. Enjoying a wide variety of performance opportunities as a collaborative artist, she appears with Er-Gene Kahng, violinist, and with Patrick Neher, bassist on recently released CDs. In 2022, the album Songs & Elegies with trombonist Cory Mixdorf, received the Silver Medal – Outstanding Achievement Award by the Global Music Awards. In the summer of 2025 was released the most recent album Her Voice with oboist Theresa Delaplain. Miroslava Panayotova has performed with the Grammy-nominated and Emmy-honored True Concord Voices & Orchestra and is a founding member of the Brass and Ivory Trio. Dr. Panayotova has presented a paper at the Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities and has performed at conferences of the College Music Society, the International Double Reed Society, and at the American Viola Society Festival. Her performances have been broadcast by KUAF, KUAT-FM, KUAT-TV, and the Bulgarian National television.

Miroslava Panayotova holds performance degrees from the University of Arizona, the University of South Florida, and the National Academy of Music in Bulgaria. In 2024, she earned a Master of Business Administration in Arts Innovation through the Global Leaders Institute, in collaboration with renowned institutions such as Harvard University, Duke University, Georgetown University, The University of Chicago, McGill University, and New York University.

Dr. Panayotova served as Artist Faculty at the Beverly Hills International Music Festival and was a member of the music faculty at the University of South Florida, where she taught piano, piano pedagogy, and chamber music. Currently, she is a Teaching Assistant Professor of Piano and Keyboard Area Coordinator at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

Xiting Yang is a pianist who fundamentally values expressivity and communication in performance. As an active concert performer, Yang regularly plays a wide variety of music as both soloist and collaborator. She has performed Gala Concerts in Candas, Spain which were praised by La Nueva Espana, singling out her exciting concert of “strength and momentum,” and describing it as a “masterful performance that delighted a big audience.” Other engagements have included performances at Carnegie Hall in New York; Steinway Series in Tampa, Florida; Music at Midday Series in New Orleans, Louisiana; One Voice Music Series in Grosse Pointe, Michigan; Tutunov Series in Ashland, Oregon; Resonance Series in Seattle, Washington; Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series in Chicago, Illinois; Gibson Centre Concert Series in Toronto, Canada. Over the years Yang has claimed top prizes in numerous solo piano competitions including Schumann International Piano Competition-Southern China Division; Chong-Sin International Piano Competition in Singapore; Indianapolis MMC Scholarship Competition; American Protégé Competition; Edward Auer Piano Workshop Concerto Competition; various MTNA competitions; Indiana University Piano Concerto Competition. She received the President’s Professional Engagement prize and the Audience Favorite prize at the Seattle International Piano Competition which included return engagements in Oregon and Washington. Ms. Yang is a frequent adjudicator of competitions including the Seattle International Piano Competition, Claudette Sorel International Piano Competition and the Oakland University Piano Competition. 

Aside from her work as a performer and educator, Yang has created an ongoing online video series of piano interviews with prominent pianists and keyboardists, BACKSTAGE: The Life Behind the Music, which has been recognized for its excellence and contribution to the music field. She holds a BM from Indiana University, MM from Rice University, and DMA from the University of Michigan. Her primary teachers include Edward Auer, Robert Roux and Logan Skelton. 

A devoted teacher, Dr. Yang has worked with many successful piano students, helping them over time to find their unique artistic voices. She frequently appears as an invited guest artist at prominent music festivals such as the Palmetto International Piano Festival, Atlantic Music Festival as well as serving as Artist Faculty at the Montecito International Music Festival. Yang has served as Visiting Faculty at Loyola University New Orleans and State University of New York Fredonia. She currently holds the position of Teaching Assistant Professor of Piano at the University of Arkansas Fayetteville.