Mei Rui, D.M.A.

The Bronze Medal Winner of the World Piano Competition in 2015, Dr. Mei Rui was praised by the Boston Globe as a “riveting” virtuoso, and by Boston Musical Intelligencer as a concert artist with “deeply felt and intense musicality.”   Pianist Mei Rui has performed to critical acclaim in the United States and abroad, including a recent performance of Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No.3 with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.  A graduate of Yale University, Yale School of Music, and Stony Brook, she holds duo-degrees in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry (B.A.) and Music (M.M., A.D. D.M.A).  While pursuing her D.M.A., she taught as a Visiting Assistant Professor in Organic and General Chemistry at the Sophie Davis Biomedical School at the City University of New York (2008-2012).  Last year, she performed a season-opening concert with violinists Xiang Yu at the Louvre Museum Auditorium in Paris, France.  Her recording of Eric Nathan’s solo works for piano with the producer Judith Sherman, who received a Grammy Nomination in 2015.  Mike Greenberg writes of a recent solo recital in San Antonio, "Rui possesses “breathtaking technique” and an “extraordinary command of color”.

Equally active as a chamber musician, Dr. Rui was featured as Artist-in-Residence at Yellowbarn Festival for its 2013-2015 season.   She was also invited to serve on the piano faculty at the Young Artist Program at Yellowbarn in 2014.  She has appeared at the Ravinia Festival (2009), Perlman Festival (2012, 2013), Yellowbarn Festival (2008), Taos (2006), Music Academy of the West (2005), Norfolk (2006), and Van Cliburn Piano Institute (1997).  She has collaborated with some of the most eminent musicians in the world, including Issac Perlman, George Manahan, Shinik Hahm, Paul Katz, Roger Tapping, and Peter Frankl.

A native of Shanghai, Mei began her piano studies at the age of 3, and was accepted into the Shanghai Conservatory of Music 3 years later.  She gave her first solo recital at the age of 10 in front of an illustrious audience that included the President of Austria and other international dignitaries at the Hofburg Imperial Palace in Vienna.  At age 11, she made her orchestral debut soloing with the Beijing Radio Symphony. She won numerous regional and national competitions in China, and her performances were featured multiple times on Chinese national television and radio stations. As a soloist, she has played with the Beijing Radio Symphony, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, Manhattan School of Music Philharmonic, Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra, and Yale Philharmonic. She has performed in some of the most prestigious concert venues in the world, including Bennet Gordon Hall in Chicago, Jordan Hall in Boston; Carnegie Hall (Weill), Steinway Hall, Merkin Hall, Stellar Performing Arts Center, Baryshnikov Arts Center, and Borden Auditorium in New York; San Fernando Cathedral in San Antonio, Duncan Hall in Houston; Woolsey Hall and Sprague Hall in New Haven; San Fernando Cathedral in San Antonio; National Concert Hall in Taipei; Lehman Hall in Santa Barbara; Beijing Concert Halll and Shanghai Grand Concert Hall.  Turning down full scholarship offers from both the Juilliard School and Manhattan School of music, she enrolled in the highly selective B.A./M.M. program at Yale, where she was the recipient of the prestigious Joseph Selden Memorial Award for excellence in the Arts, the Sheffield Scientific Scholarship, the Bruce Simonds Scholarship, and the George W. Miles Scholarship.  Other awards include the Seldon Award, Van Gelder Memorial Award, the McDermett Scholarship, the Lowenthal Fellowship; top prizes in the San Antonio International Piano Competition, Manhattan School of Music Concerto Competition, William Waite Concerto Competition, Yale Chamber Music Competition, the Kingsville International Competition, and the Kosciusko Chopin International Competition.  

A dedicated educator, Dr. Rui was inducted into the prestigious Steinway Teacher Hall of Fame.  She taught at the Yale School of Music (2004-2007) prior to starting her piano studio in New York and later  in Houston. She was invited to serve on the Piano Faculty at Yellowbarn Festival’s Young Artists Program in 2014.  She has given masterclasses and coached chamber music groups at the American Festival of the Arts, and at the Houston High School of Performing Arts.  In 2014, her students swept the first and second prizes in the middle and high school divisions at the HMTA competition.  Numerous of her students have given their Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center debut performances in New York.  Many others have garnered top prizes in numerous competitions.

Some of Dr. Rui’s most influential mentors include Claude Frank, Peter Frankl, Gil Kalish, Phillip Kawin, Jerome Lowenthal, and Robert Mcdonald.

In 2016, Dr. Rui is currently an Assistant Professor of Music-in-Medicine in the Department of Surgery at Houston Methodist Hospital, and a Research Scientist at the Center for Performing Arts Medicine.

She also serves a collaborative pianist at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.  A Yoga-Alliance certified Baptiste and Bikram instructor, she is a world traveler, PADI-certified SCUBA diver, and a proud owner of a dachshund named Ludwig.

Piano quartet reading session with Itzhak Perlman, Roger Tapping, Paul Katz and Don Weilerstein.