Bios
Pi-Hsun Shih
Pianist Pi-Hsun Shih /ˈpē-shun ˈshē / 施碧薫, Doctor of Musical Arts, was born in Taichung, Taiwan. She has taught at the Hartt School Community Division since 2000 and is also a Visiting Artist in Music at Trinity College. In addition, she has served on the faculties of Mount Holyoke College and Wesleyan University. Dr. Shih is a Steinway Teacher and Educational Partner.
Pi-Hsun Shih’s performing career began with wins at the Emerson String Quartet Competition and the International Chamber Music Competition in Boston. Her success in the Hartt School’s concerto competition provided her with opportunities to perform as a soloist with both the Hartt School Symphony Orchestra and the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra in Brazil. She has also served as an orchestral keyboardist and performed as a soloist with the Mexico State Symphony Orchestra in Mexico.
For two decades, she was the pianist of the Hartford-based New World Piano Trio. The Hartford Courant described her live performance as exhibiting “searing precision… agile ease and brilliant flashes of panache.” She frequently collaborates with Russian American cellist Tanya Anisimova on the East Coast, and their recordings are available on major streaming platforms such as Apple Music and Spotify.
On her YouTube channel, she has created a series of thought‑provoking video essays. Through innovative video technology, she invites viewers to reimagine classical music, sharing her own musical journey with a broader community.
Teaching Philosophy
Dr. Shih believes that every student is unique and considers it her responsibility to help them discover their individuality while nurturing their musical growth. She achieves this by guiding students through structured disciplines that prepare them to thrive in the musical world. She strongly believes that preparation is key to success and hopes her approach will instill dedication and a positive attitude toward the music her students create.
Annie Trepanier
Violinist Annie Trépanier is a captivating performer and recording artist as well as a passionately dedicated teacher. The Boston Globe has hailed her playing as “supercharged, clear-headed, yet soulful” and her travels have included concerts in Brazil, Bolivia, Turkey, and throughout Europe. She has been heard regularly in national broadcasts on Radio-Canada, CBC and NPR and has recorded for Toccata Classics, Navona, Ablaze, Arkadash, Metier, CRI and Ongaku.
She has been a member and Co-Executive Director of Cuatro Puntos–a Connecticut-based musical collective dedicated to bringing people together through musical partnerships around the world, including activities in New England, South America, Afghanistan, Turkey, and England–since 2013.
Trépanier and her husband, violist Steve Larson, perform together regularly both as a duo and as part of Cuatro Puntos Ensemble. Previously they played together for twenty years as members of Avery Ensemble, producing a regular concert series as well as recordings which were celebrated by highly regarded publications such as The Strad: “The Avery Ensemble’s musicians’ great love for this music shines through in every bar, thanks to the eloquence of their tone and phrasing.”
Each summer Trépanier is invited to perform for two wonderful communities of music lovers – at Loon Lake Live in upstate New York, and at the Wintergreen Music Festival in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. She is a former member of the New World Trio and the Diabelli String Quartet and has appeared as a guest with such ensembles as the Copenhagen and Adaskin String Trios. Trépanier was a teaching artist for ten years at The Hotchkiss School and now teaches privately at her home and runs an afterschool music program at The Master's School in Simsbury, CT.