The University of Toledo

Amy Chang

Amy Chang

"Amy Chang is a cellist with exciting, dramatic temperament and virtuoso technique," said Paul Katz, world-renowned cellist of the former Cleveland String Quartet.

Amy Chang is the Associate Principal Cello of the Toledo Symphony Orchestra and a member of the Toledo Trio. She also serves on the music faculty of the University of Toledo. In addition to performing as a soloist and chamber musician with the Toledo Symphony, Chang is regularly invited as an adjudicator for musical competitions and auditions. She travels regularly to Asia giving master classes in music festivals, performing concertos and chamber music with musicians from all over the world.  

Amy Chang has collaborated with many orchestras including the Taipei Symphonietta conducted by Henry Mazer; the International Music Festival Orchestras conducted by Jahja Ling, Byron McGilvry and Uriel Segal; the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ya-Hui Wang; the Yin-Qi Symphony Orchestra conducted by Cheng-Tu Su; the Japan Euodia Symphony Orchestra conducted by Shi-Wen Chin; the Contemporary Chamber Orchestra Taipei conducted by Chung-Fung Lee and the Celebrity Chamber Group. Music performances have taken her from Shinjuku, Japan to Beijing, China, Vancouver, Canada. She has also performed solos in Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta and at Avery Fisher Hall in New York City in the United States.

Aside from her music career, Amy Chang is dedicated in serving as a cultural ambassador. She was appointed by the Toledo City Mayor, Michael Bell, to visit several cities in China to facilitate relations between Toledo and China. She also participated in Taiwanese Cultural Festival sponsored by the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and toured throughout Canada and United States.

While Amy Chang was studying at the National Taiwan University of Arts (formerly known as Academy of Arts) in Taipei, she received a full scholarship from the Rotary Club to study as a high school exchange student in the United States. The Music Institute of Chicago also granted her a full scholarship to study cello. That very year she won the first prize at the St. Paul Musical Arts Competition. She then continued her studies at the Eastman School of Music in New York where she received her Bachelor and Master's Degrees in Cello Performance.

Upon graduation, Amy Chang returned to her native country, Taiwan, where she was actively involved in promoting contemporary compositions, collaborated with famous electronic music composer, Ivan Tcherepnin, She also participated regularly in "Euterpe-Autumn" music series, the most avant-garde exhibition of compositions by modern Chinese composers.  In addition to performing solos, chamber music, and concertos throughout Taiwan, Amy Chang taught cello and chamber music at Soo-Chow and Dong-Hai Universities.

Her former teachers include Nell Novak, Robert Sylvester, Allan Harris, Pamela Frame, Paul Katz, Zara Nelsova and Steven Kates.

Amy Chang was featured in the recording "The Story of Man" composed by Gordon Chin.  She has also recorded with jazz pianist Claude Black in "Live at the Peristyle."

You can email Amy Chang at cellochang@hotmail.com