2019 Conference Guest Artist:

Irene Peery-Fox

Irene Peery-Fox received her doctoral degree from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University, where she studied with Leon Fleisher. Before her doctoral work, she earned bachelor of music and master of science degrees from Juilliard, studying with Irwin Freudlich, Jeaneanne Dowis, and Ilona Kabos. She has also earned an ARCT degree from the Royal Conservatory of Toronto and a performing arts degree from the University of Alberta, Edmonton.

Irene has won numerous piano contests; twice she won the International CBC Talent Festival Contest. She also won the Alaska Music Trails Concert Tour. She has received four Ford Foundation Grants, four Canada Council grants, an INCO grant, and five full-time Juilliard scholarships for piano study. Her many concerto appearances include performances with orchestras in Montreal, Toronto, Salt Lake City, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Victoria, Calgary, Provo, and Lethbridge. She has performed solo recitals in Canada, the United States (including Carnegie), and Europe, as well as chamber recitals at Carnegie Hall and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. She has also performed on radio and television on the NBC, CBC, and BBC networks.

Irene was formerly a faculty member at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University, Preparatory Division. Currently, she serves on the Brigham Young University piano faculty. Her students have been frequent prize winners in international, national, state, and local competitions. She is listed in the Canadian Dictionary of Music and Musicians and in the Outstanding Young Women of America.

Click here to read more about Irene Peery-Fox.

2019 CONFERENCE PERFORMANCE GUEST ARTIST:

JOHN ZHAO

John Zhao is sixteen years old and is a student of Dr. Irene Peery-Fox. Mr. Zhao has been a frequent prize winner in International, National and State competitions. He recently won two first International prizes in  the American Proteges Competition, in both the Concerto and Piano and Solo competitions. As a result, John just recently performed in Carnegie Hall on June 9. In September of 2018 John won the annual Salute to Youth Competition in Salt Lake City and performed Tchaikovsky’s Concerto No. 1 with the Utah Symphony in Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City. The performance was broadcast over 89.1 FM radio. John was first prize winner of the Utah Music Teachers Association Concerto Competition which afforded him the opportunity to perform in the Assembly Hall on Temple Square in Salt Lake City. Mr. Zhao won second prize in the International Keyboard Odyssiad Competition and Festival and third prize in the Los Angeles International Piano Competition. John was selected as an “Official Competitor” in the Gina Bachauer Junior International Piano Competition and finalist in the 15th Ettlingen International Piano Competition in Germany.

In addition to competitions John has participated in numerous festivals. He was a young artist performer in the 35th Piano Texas Festival, joining with the Van Cliburn Piano Competition in 2017. In addition, John participated in the National Chopin Training Camp sponsored by the US National Chopin Foundation in 2018. He attended the Oxford Music International Academy sponsored by the Canadian Department of Culture and French Ministere De La Culture, and participated in the Southeastern Piano Festival. John made his first orchestral debut at the age of ten yeas old and has continued to perform in many prestigious festivals and competitions ever since. In addition to his Tchaikovsky performance with the Utah Symphony Mr. Zhao has performed Chopin’s Andante Spianato et Grande Polonaise Brilliant with the American West Symphony, which was broadcast on University Utah Cable TV. He also has given other performances with the Salt Lake Symphony and the American Fork Symphony in Utah, plus a performance in Italy with the Napolinova Orchestra. This performance was broadcast on One Talent TV Classic music channel. As a representative of the Gina Bachauer Junior competitors John Zhao was interviewed and performed on KSL News and performed on the Utah Arts Festival Central Stages, in addition to being invited to perform for commercials. He has performed over twenty school concerts for the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition Foundation since 2015. Other solo performances include: in Libby Gardner Hall at the University of Utah, for the TWO Pianist Return Show on the stage of the Rose Wagner Hall, at the opening ceremony for the Utah Chamber Music Community and several Carnegie Hall performances.

John is a straight A, International Baccalaureate student at Hillcrest High School, where he is senior officer of the National Honor Society and president of the Chemistry Club. He is a volunteer pianist at the Utah Senior Living Community, and for both the Music Therapy at Primary Children’s Hospital and the Intermountain Hospitals in Utah. He is the son of Wayne Zhao and Sunni Li in Salt Lake City.