Edith Widayani - Memories (2021)

Hailed as one of the most accomplished young pianists in her home country of Indonesia, Dr. Edith Widayani has established herself as performing solo artist, chamber musician, and music educator, with appearances in North, Central, and South Americas, Europe, and Asia.

Currently the Artistic Program Director of Indonesia International Piano Competition and the Brand Ambassador to The Grand Signature Piano, Edith also hosted an Online Piano Workshop during the pandemic, partnering with "Let The Music Begin!" and Amadeus Enterprise, gathering more than 200 participants from all across Indonesia through various age groups and levels.

Having earned her Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in Performance and Literature with double minors in Chamber Music/Collaborative Piano and Music Theory from the Eastman School of Music - the first Indonesian to earn a doctorate from Eastman - Edith graduated as a Pi Kappa Lambda and was awarded the prestigious Henry Cobos Endowed Piano Prize for demonstrating excellence in piano performance.

She also holds a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance, magna cum laude, from Texas Christian University School of Music and a Master of Music in Piano Performance and Literature from Eastman School of Music. Her teachers include Mrs. Edmay Solaiman, Mrs. Aisha Pletscher, Dr. Johannes Nugroho, Prof. Ling Yuan, Dr. Tamás Ungár, and most recently, Prof. Barry Snyder.

As laureate of both solo and chamber music competitions, including the 1st Prize Winner at Indonesia International Piano Competition, the1st Prize and Best Instrumentalist Award at the Concurso de Música Cámara Ecoparque Trasmiera in Arnuero, Spain, 1st Prize Winners in the 2014 Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Piano Competition in New York City, 2013 Jakarta International Open Piano Competition, and Ananda Sukarlan Award 2010, Edith has also received Award of Achievement in International Forum given by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Indonesia.

Committed to music education as a young on-demand pedagogue, Edith has taught intensively at Eastman, as assistant to Prof. Snyder for piano, instructor for keyboard literature, and teaching assistant in musicology and theory departments.

In the recent years she did both performances and residencies at the Escuela de Música Victoriano López in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, and at the Escuela Superior de Música, Universidad Juárez del Estado de Durango in Mexico. She also performed and gave masterclasses as a guest artist in Del Mar College, Corpus Christi, TX in 2016 and at 2013 Bogotá International Piano Festival in Colombia.

An avid chamber musician, Edith was a guest artist on the 6th Asia Region Suzuki Conference in Bali in 2016. As a collaborative artist at Eastman, Edith was given Award of Excellence in Accompanying two years in a row and featured at the Eastman Virtuosi Concert Series, performing with Eastman faculty - bass-baritone Jan Opalach, violinist Federico Agostini and double-bassist James VanDemark. Previously, during her residency at Texas Christian University School of Music, Edith has also been awarded the Judith Solomon Award in Chamber Music and notably the TCU Faculty and Friends Chamber Music Award, performing with violinists Curt Thompson and Eugene Cherkasov, violist Misha Galaganov, cellist Jesús Castro-Balbi, double-bassist Yuan Xiong Lu and trumpeter Jon Burgess.

​Besides her passion in piano, Edith also enjoys playing Chinese gu-zheng and Indonesian gamelan. During her spare time she enjoys cooking, baking, as well as watching movies and doing some chamber music sight-reading with her friends. Edith is also a graduate of the 2019 cohort of The Global Leaders Program, focusing on transforming lives around the world through music, cultural agency, social entrepreneurship, community development and teaching artistry.