About

Xin Ti-Biography

Xin Ti (or Cindy) was born in China. She displayed superb musical talent at an early age and was accepted to Elementary Music School at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. She received numerous awards in China and began giving a series of solo recitals since she was 6 years old. Cindy received high praise for her participation in the Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musician and received an invitation to participate in the “Morningside Music Bridge” program at the Mount Royal Conservatory of Music in Calgary, Canada when she was 16 years old. She made her debut in South Korea, performing Mendelssohn’s Concerto for Violin and Piano with the China Youth Orchestra.  

A year later, she moved to the United States to continue her piano performing career in a private performing art school in Los Angeles. Under the guidance of world renowned American Pianist and artist Mr. John Perry, Cindy received the Second Place in the Cincinnati International Piano Competition; Fourth Place (Honorable Mention) in Southern Missouri International Piano Competition; The Youngest Semi-Finalist Prize in William Kapell International Piano Competition; First Place in Gail Newby Concerto Competition in California and qualification to participate in Tchaikovsky International piano Competition in Moscow, Russia.  Afterwards, Cindy attended Texas Christian University, School of Music (TCU) with Dr. Tamas Ungar.   During this time, she qualified to participate in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.

Xin Ti’s  piano repertoire includes the Baroque, classical, Romantic, and 20th-century eras.  For the Baroque period, Xin Ti shines when she plays Johann Sabastian Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in F minor from the Well Tempered Clavier Book 2.  The Cinicinati Enquirer described Ti’s playing as “liquid melodic lines and pearl-like pleading tones…with a mechanistic forward drive.”  An example of her mature works both in technique and musicianship include Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Sonata in C Major, Op. 53, No. 21, “Waldstein” and Franz Schubert’s Piano Sonata in B flat Major, D.960.  These pieces are at the heart of Xin Ti’s repertoire because of the complexity in their compositions and they are considered masterworks of the composers.  For the Romantic period, Ti’s virtuosity of a pianist is displayed through Franz Liszt’s “Hungarian Rhapsody” in C sharp minor, No. 2 and Frederick Chopin’s “Barcarolle” in F sharp major, Op. 60.  In a review by John K. Toedtman, he says that the music sounded like “cascading octaves, daredevil scales and fistfuls of notes rained from the pianist’s hands and enveloped the audience in lush sounds.”  

Xin Ti has exhibited her passion for 20th-century works in renditions of imaginative impressionists such as Claude Debussy’s Feux d’artifice (Fireworks) piece.  Other highlights include performances of Beethoven’s Emperor Piano Concerto No. 5, Op. 73, as well as Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16 , performing with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

In 2011, Cindy received a job position at Blinn College, Texas.  In 2017, she was the piano accompanist for the First United Methodist Church Choir in Georgetown, while she completed her Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance under the tutelage of Dr. Kiyoshi Tamagawa at Southwestern University. Cindy graduated in May 2021 from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music and received her Master of Music degree under the guidance of Professor Brian Connelly and she was piano faculty at the Vivace International School of Music in both Katy and Houston, Texas and now provides private lessons in her own studio.

Mission Statement

I intend to share my knowledge of piano performance and pedagogy to each student regardless of their level so that they may improve their performance.