Dr. Pui Yan Ronald Lau, a virtuosic pianist and recording engineer, performs extensively as a solo pianist, collaborative pianist with musicians, and cross-discipline pianist with dancers. Lau completed his Doctor of Musical Arts and master’s degree at the University of Iowa (UI) under the mentorship of renowned pianist Uriel Tsachor. During his study at UI, Lau has also studied with celebrated artists, including Daniel Shapiro, Asaf Zohar, Roberta Rust, Uri Vardi, Rich Shuster, Jane Solose, Janis Vakarelis, Yen-Tim Timothy Li, and Ting Zhou, in masterclasses and private coaching. He received his bachelor’s degree at the Hong Kong Baptist University under pianist Amelia Chan’s guidance.
In 2018-19, Lau produced a new piano transcription of Ferdinand Hiller’s Symphony in E minor Op. 67, “Es Muβ Doch Frühling Werden”. He has recorded premiere recordings of this transcription together with Theodor Kirchner’s solo piano arrangement of Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 2 in C major, Op. 61. As an active performer, Lau has frequently been invited to perform on the 1878 Steinway piano in the Old Capitol Museum in Iowa. He has also performed on Vladimir Horowitz’s Steinway piano in the Piano Extravaganza 2013-14.
Besides performing as a solo pianist, Lau is also enthusiastically received as a collaborative pianist. He performed duos and piano trios at many occasions with violinists Tim Cuffman, Leonardo Perez, Chang-en Lu, and Biffa Kwok, cellists Matthew Laughlin, EunKyung Son, and Cynthia Yau, bassoonist Stephanie Patterson, and vocalists Lisa Neher and Nicholas Miguel. Lau also served as the teaching assistance of the UI Choral Department during 2013-14, when he performed with Kantorei and Camerata under the baton of Timothy Stalter, David Puderbaugh, Shannon Gravelle, and Benjamin Luedcke. In 2018 and 2019, Lau was the staff collaborative pianist of Caroga Arts Collective’s summer festival, Your Body Is Your Strad/National Summer Cello Institute, led by Hagit and Uri Vardi. Lau’s involvements as a collaborated pianist also expands to different forms of arts. He joined the accompanying team of the UI Dance Department from 2011 to 2013 and was featured as the collaborative pianist in the Graduate Performance 2013 with dancers Jeremy Blair and Marie Brown.
Since 2014 to the present, Lau has been working as a recording engineer assistance in the UI School of Music recording studio under James Edel’s supervision. He has participated in the production of commercial releases including Contemplation by the University of Iowa
Saxophone Ensemble and Kenneth Tse (2014), Crescendo by Johnson County Landmark and John Rapson (2015), David DeBoor Canfield: Chamber Music, vol. 4 (2015), Hot Tamale Louie: The Story of Zarif Khan by John Rapson (2017), Ich Denke Dein: Songs & Chamber Works by Nikolai Medtner by Rachel Joselson, Sasha Burdin, and Scott Conklin (2019), Dupont: Complete Piano Music by Bo Ties (2019), Portuguese Perspectives by Courtney Miller and Minji Kwon (2019), and Strings Music By David Gompper (2019).