About
Dr. June Xiao has been praised by Menahem Pressler, the grand seigneur of the piano, as “a miracle worker with an extraordinary ability to procure and cultivate young talents.” The piano world’s much revered Sergei Babayan says “June has proven to me what a great teacher she has become, having transformed students in record time.”
Dr. Xiao’s deep commitments to students and strong pedagogical lineage has attracted students preparing for successful competition and conservatory auditions under her guidance. Highlights include her work with the prodigious pianist Haochen Zhang, the youngest ever contestant and winner of the 2007 China International and the 2009 Cliburn. In the past three years, her young students have been designated for NPR’s Young Artist Fellowship, Orpheus Classical CD Young Artist of the Year, NPR “From the Top”, CBS Special Feature, WQXR’s Young Artist Showcase, Canada International and Juilliard Precollege Concerto Competitions, etc. Her student was hand chosen by the chairman and jury members of the International Tchaikovsky/Chopin Competitions, as one of the top fifteen classical pianists in the world, under age 16. Denis Matsuev praised Dr. Xiao’s student as “a new star in classical music and the pride of her country.”
Dr. Xiao’s approach, whether to piano instruction or career development, reflects her multifaceted experiences in music. From 2004 to 2013, her career in China included as the founding Music Department Chair at Jinan University in Guangzhou; teaching at the Shenzhen Arts School and supervising as an international project consultant at China’s Poly Performing Arts.
As a parent, Dr. Xiao understands high performing kids and her students have gone on to New York City’s most selective schools and the nation’s top universities.
Articles
Astoria Characters: The Piano Teacher - February 19th, 2023
Written by Nancy Ruhling, Astoria Characters - “Meet the insanely interesting people in NYC’s most diverse neighborhood”
The sound of the piano, powerfully playful, echoes through June Xiao’s duplex apartment.
With her sleek Siberian, Milford, at her feet, she heads to the basement, down two sets of steep steps that are so narrow you almost have to turn sideways, where one of her students is practicing on the Hamburg Steinway. (The gleaming grand piano, in flamed mahogany, came in through the garage legless and was reassembled on site.)
Benny, who at 15 is the same age as June’s daughter, Caroline, is a student in the Manhattan School of Music pre-college program. He has a competition at Juilliard in a couple of hours, and June’s giving him last-minute pointers – and confidence.
They are working on Rachmaninoff; Milford is deciding whether to stay on the floor or jump on the piano.
June, an enthusiastic woman with long black hair and a dulcet voice that’s as soothing as wind chimes, stops Benny mid-note.
Make the melody louder, bolder, she advises in soft tones, adding what he already knows: This will be a make-or-break piece for him, but he can do it once he puts his mind and fingers to it. —