“Whoever says Hilda Huang must also say Bach.”

-Leipzig Bach Archive

Pianist and harpsichordist Hilda Huang (b. 1996) brings flair, finesse and forward-thinking interpretation to historical and contemporary keyboard repertoire. First capturing international attention as the youngest person and first American to win First Prize at the Leipzig International Bach Competition (2014) on piano at 18 years old, she holds the singular distinction of sweeping top prizes across the Leipzig, Tureck and Würzburg International Bach Competitions.

Hilda’s early association with Bach’s music was featured in the documentary film Bach and Friends alongside Hilary Hahn, Bobby McFerrin, and the Emerson String Quartet. Her fluency on both modern and historical instruments began at age 8, and the exchange between modern historical performance practice continues to shape her signature style defined by structural clarity and expressive warmth. Since her debut recital on the Steinway & Sons Prizewinners’ Concert Network at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, presented by the Leipzig Bach Archive and broadcast on Leipzig MDR, she has maintained an international career at the highest level, most recently earning Second Prize at the prestigious Musica Antiqua Brugge Competition on harpsichord (2026).

“alluring extroversion”

-New York Concert Review

She made her recording debut on piano with Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra for TELARC (2008) and first appeared as harpsichord soloist with Nicholas McGegan and Philharmonia Baroque. Hilda has since performed with the Mitteldeutsches Kammerorchester, San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, Sweelinck Baroque Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, and the Nieuwe Philharmonie Utrecht. As a soloist and chamber musician, she has appeared at the Leipzig Bach Festival, BASF Gesellschaftshaus, Montréal Bach Festival, Chamber Music Northwest, Kingston Chamber Music Festival, Steans Music Institute at the Ravinia Festival, Helicon Foundation (NYC), and the Académie Baroque of Les Folies Françoises. Recent and upcoming performance highlights include the Early Music Festival Utrecht (NL), Festival Musicorum (BE), Leidse Salon (NL), Rietveld Ensemble (NL), and a solo harpsichord-piano-organ recitla, lecture, and masterclass for the Salon Piano Series (USA). Dividing her time between Amsterdam and the US, she also regularly contributes music for worship at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity.

“She has a mind that can multi-task and ears that can “multi-listen.’”

-San Francisco Examiner

Hilda earned her Bachelor of Science in Chemistry magna cum laude with honors from Yale University before completing her D.M.A. in solo piano at The Juilliard School, where her doctoral dissertation about the rhythm of suspensions was honored by the Richard F. French Doctoral Prize in 2025. She was named a U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts and a Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow (2019-2021). Between 2020 and 2024 she was on the roster of Astral Artists, with whose support she commissioned and premiered a new Missa Brevis for piano, harpsichord or organ written specficially for her by Pultizer Prize-winning composer John Harbison. A 2023 U.S. Fulbright Scholar to the Netherlands, she holds a Master’s in Early Music from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, where she studied organ with Matthias Havinga and historically informed basso continuo practice with Kris Verhelst. Her principal mentors are John McCarthy and David Kuyken.

Hilda serves on the faculty of the Sweelinck Academie at the Conversatorium van Amsterdam, where she is main subject teacher in piano, harpsichord, and chamber music. Following her passion for teaching, she has also led classes for the Preparatory Division of the San Francisco Conservatory, The Juilliard School Pre-College, and tonebase Piano Community, among many others.

An advocate for accessibility and equity in music, Hilda collaborates with Het Muziekinstrumentenfonds (NL), Atelier Chris Maene (BE), and Kluge Klaviaturen (DE) to commission a custom narrow-key piano keyboard, creating a permanent, accessible resource within Het Muziekinstrumentenfonds’ keyboard collection. To expand dialogue around keyboard diversity she is producing a multi-part interview series featuring cross-disciplinary experts to inform, inspire, and support keyboardists worldwide.

Hilda Huang is a Steinway Artist and practices on a 1927 Steinway A graciously on loan from Het Muziekinstrumentenfonds.

“Bach remains an adventure for Hilda Huang.”

-West-Allgemeine Zeitung