Louisa Peng (Liang-Yi Peng) is an active collaborative pianist, performance coach, and educator. She serves as Adjunct Faculty and Collaborative Pianist in the Department of Music at East Tennessee State University (ETSU), as well as Collaborative Pianist and Vocal Coach with the ETSU Department of Theatre and Dance.
Maintaining a prolific performance career, Peng averages approximately 50 collaborative recitals each year. Widely recognized for her musical sensitivity and versatility, she has earned a reputation as an inspiring colleague and dedicated mentor. Her professional engagements include collaborative piano and coaching roles at Interlochen Arts Camp, Atlantic Music Festival, Castleman Quartet Program, and the Midwest Institute of Opera. She has also worked as a ballet pianist at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, collaborating with Christian Claessens and other distinguished faculty. Passionate about teaching and coaching, she presented a masterclass on Debussy’s Première Rhapsodie for graduate students at the University of North Texas during CollabFest 2025, where she also performed in the conference concert.
Beyond the stage, Peng is a dedicated advocate for inclusive pedagogy. Having previously worked with children with developmental disabilities, she is deeply interested in understanding and responding to the unique needs of each individual student. In 2025, she presented at the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) National Conference in Minneapolis on “Student-Centered Piano Instruction: Empowering Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder,” advocating for individualized approaches to piano instruction. Earlier in her career, her experience as a graduate teaching assistant under Dr. Susanna Garcia and Dr. Chan Kiat Lim, founders of eNovativePiano, provided her with specialized expertise in utilizing online multimedia resources in group piano settings.
As a musical theatre pianist, Peng has extensive experience playing for productions in rehearsal and performance. She presented a representative selection of works by Jason Robert Brown in her faculty recital, showcasing the demanding piano scores of Songs for a New World, 13, The Last Five Years, Honeymoon in Vegas, The Bridges of Madison County, and The Connector. Through this repertoire, she continues to highlight the piano’s vital role as an expressive and supportive musical partner to the singer.
Peng earned a Performer Diploma in Collaborative Piano from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where she studied with Drs. Aram Arakelyan, Kimberly Carballo, Chih-Yi Chen, and Charles Prestinari, with additional coaching from Prof. Anne Epperson. Her graduate studies also include a Master of Music in Collaborative Piano from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where she studied with Dr. Yuling Huang-Davie, and a Master of Music in Piano Performance from Illinois State University, where she studied with Dr. Geoffrey Duce. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from the University of Taipei, where she studied with Dr. Kuan-Yu Chen.