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Presented by the Emerson/Harris Program for Private Study Solo Recital Series
Livestream: https://mta.mit.edu/viewlisten/live-killian-hall
About the Performers
Leon Chen Guangyuan (Physics ‘29) is a pianist from Singapore. With an avid interest in piano performance, and in making and enjoying music with like-minded peers, he has travelled 24 hours across the world to the hub of the musical world, MIT.
Barely past his first, beautifully snowy winter in America, he has already found himself a home at the Boston Symphony in the upper balcony seats listening to some life-changing Mahler, at MIT Symphony Orchestra rehearsals in the low brass hideout pumping out some Tchaikovsky, and at the occasional Harvard Mozart Society Orchestra performance playing some Bizet. He finds equal joy in performing piano music, attending competitions as a student and even as a soldier in Singapore, not to win (which he didn’t), but to meet fellow musicians with a deep love for the piano and to fuel his own pursuit of new musical challenges.
Outside of music, Leon has also unexpectedly, and very fortunately, found a love for theatre at MIT, playing a lead role in the Fall 2025 production of Moonchildren with the Life on Stage Theatre group. He is also involved in the AI Safety Fundamentals fellowship and in the MIT Energy and Climate Club, both working on issues he views as definitive of his generation. Excitingly, he has also furthered his passion for physics through computational dark matter research at the Necib group.
Leon is very grateful to his piano teacher at MIT, Mi-eun Kim, for her unwavering support, patient guidance, and incredible humor. He is also deeply appreciative of his piano teachers in Singapore, Shane Thio and Yolanda Zou. Last but not least, he would like to thank his family and his friends for encouraging him to pursue his musical journey which has led to some truly remarkable experiences, this recital being the most recent one!
About the Emerson/Harris Program for Private Study
Support for private musical study is available for students through the Emerson/Harris Program (E/HP), which offers merit-based financial awards for outstanding achievement on instruments or voice in classical, jazz, or world music. Each academic year, the program awards Scholarships and Fellowships to nearly seventy students who commit to a full year’s study and participate in the musical life of MIT.
Auditions for the program are held at the beginning of each academic year. Private teacher selections, made in consultation with the E/HP jury heads, may include instructors from MIT staff and throughout Greater Boston. The Emerson/Harris Program is funded by the late Mr. Cherry L. Emerson, Jr. (SM, 1941), in response to an appeal from AssociateProvost Ellen T. Harris (Class of 1949 Professor Emeritus of Music). The Emerson/Harris Masterclass Series is supported, in part, by the Robert L. Malster (1956) Fund.
