Walnut Hill School for the Arts

核桃山藝術學校（Walnut Hill School for the Arts）是美國最負盛名的藝術寄宿學校之一，位於麻薩諸塞州納蒂克（Natick），距波士頓約 32 公里。學校於 1893 年由 Florence Bigelow 和 Charlotte Conant 創辦，最初是一所面向女生的大學預科學校，並作為衛斯理學院（Wellesley College）的輸送學校。1972 年，學校轉型為以藝術為核心的男女混校，奠定了其今日的獨特地位。

今日的核桃山藝術學校為 9 至 12 年級的學生提供五個藝術主修方向：音樂、舞蹈、戲劇、視覺藝術及寫作/電影/媒體藝術。學校校訓「Non Nobis Solum」（不只為自己）體現了其以藝術服務社群的精神。約 239 名學生在佔地 40 英畝的校園中，在嚴謹的學術課程之外，全身心投入藝術的鑽研。

學校的鋼琴課程尤為突出，與世界頂尖音樂學院新英格蘭音樂學院（New England Conservatory, NEC）建立了正式合作關係。透過這一合作，核桃山的鋼琴學生可以向 NEC 的頂尖教師學習，包括 Wha Kyung Byun、HaeSun Paik、Jonathan Bass 及 Max Levinson 等國際知名鋼琴家。學生亦有機會參與由世界級鋼琴家主持的大師班課程。

核桃山的鋼琴畢業生在國際比賽中屢獲殊榮，包括克萊本國際青少年鋼琴比賽、克利夫蘭國際青少年鋼琴比賽等頂尖賽事。畢業生繼而升讀茱莉亞音樂學院、柯蒂斯音樂學院、新英格蘭音樂學院等世界一流音樂學府。

George Li (Class of 2013) is perhaps the most celebrated pianist to have graduated from Walnut Hill in recent decades. He studied with Wha Kyung Byun at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School while attending Walnut Hill, before completing a dual degree at Harvard University and NEC in 2019. Li won the Silver Medal at the 2015 International Tchaikovsky Competition and received the prestigious 2016 Avery Fisher Career Grant, establishing himself as one of the foremost pianists of his generation.

HaeSun Paik (Class of 1983) represents a remarkable full circle: a Walnut Hill alumna who returned to become Co-Chair of Piano at the New England Conservatory, the very institution that partners with her alma mater. Her distinguished career as both performer and pedagogue exemplifies the long-term artistic development that Walnut Hill nurtures.

Among the distinguished pianists who have given masterclasses at Walnut Hill through the NEC partnership are Hung-Kuan Chen, Minsoo Sohn, and Alexander Korsantia — all of whom are also faculty members at NEC or have close ties to the Boston music community. Hung-Kuan Chen, born in Taipei and raised in Germany, is on the faculty of The Juilliard School and has performed and taught at Walnut Hill's Keiter Center for the Performing Arts. Minsoo Sohn, winner of the 2006 Honens International Piano Competition and teacher of Cliburn Competition winner Yunchan Lim, joined NEC's piano faculty in 2023. Alexander Korsantia, a Georgian-American pianist, has been Professor of Piano at NEC for over 22 years.

Hung-Kuan Chen（陳宏寬）生於台北，成長於德國，現為茱莉亞音樂學院教授及耶魯大學訪問教授，亦曾任新英格蘭音樂學院鋼琴系主任。他曾多次在核桃山的 Keiter 表演藝術中心演出及執教。Minsoo Sohn（孫旻秀）是韓裔美籍鋼琴家，2006 年霍南斯國際鋼琴比賽得主，2023 年加入 NEC 鋼琴教師團隊，其學生包括克萊本大賽冠軍林雲漢（Yunchan Lim）。Alexander Korsantia是格魯吉亞裔美籍鋼琴家，在 NEC 擔任鋼琴教授逾 22 年，現居波士頓。

Hong Kong pianist Tin-Pui Tang participated in the Annual Music Festival at Walnut Hill, organised by the Foundation for Chinese Performing Arts (中華表演藝術基金會) — a summer music festival held annually at Walnut Hill's Keiter Center for the Performing Arts in Natick, Massachusetts. During the festival, he had the opportunity to receive masterclass guidance from distinguished pianists including Hung-Kuan Chen, Minsoo Sohn, and Alexander Korsantia, broadening his musical perspective through encounters with these internationally acclaimed artist-teachers.

This North American festival experience formed part of Tin-Pui's broader international music education journey, which also included the Aspen Music Festival and School (as a Polonsky Foundation Fellow in 2019), the Kirishima International Music Festival in Japan, and the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Canada — alongside his formal studies at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, the Royal Academy of Music in London, and the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music in Israel.

香港鋼琴家鄧天培曾參與由中華表演藝術基金會主辦的「胡桃山音樂營」（Annual Music Festival at Walnut Hill）——這是每年夏季在麻薩諸塞州納蒂克核桃山藝術學校 Keiter 表演藝術中心舉行的音樂節。在音樂節期間，他有機會接受陳宏寬（Hung-Kuan Chen）、孫旻秀（Minsoo Sohn）及Alexander Korsantia等著名鋼琴家的大師班指導，透過與這些國際知名藝術家的交流，豐富了其音樂視野。