Brandon Zhou, organist
Brandon Zhou is a Los Angeles-based pianist/organist, composer, and conductor who has performed with acclaimed musicians such as Hilá Plitmann, Tony Arnold, and Ida Kavafian, and has had compositions premiered at the Moab Music Festival, Thurnauer Chamber Music Series, and various universities in the U.S. He is a faculty member at Mount Saint Mary’s University, where he directs a musical theater workshop and teaches chamber music, and also serves as the Assistant Organist at First Presbyterian Church of Santa Monica.
Recent engagements include organ recitals in LA and San Francisco (Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, Pasadena Presbyterian Church, Trinity + St. Peter’s Episcopal Church), serving as the pianist/répétiteur for the Castleton Festival’s production of Lorin Maazel’s opera 1984 (Castleton, VA), and conducting the workshop performance of John Aylward’s opera Oblivion (Goethe-Institut, Boston). In upcoming months, he will serve as assistant conductor for Opera UCLA’s production of Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride (LA, May 2026) and perform an organ recital on the Westwood United Methodist Church Summer Organ Concert Series (LA, July 2026).
Brandon earned his Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, where he studied with pianist Inna Faliks and composer Richard Danielpour. Additional mentors include organists Mark Hilt and Kent Tritle, pianist Gloria Cheng, and composer George Tsontakis. He is a member of the Los Angeles chapter of the American Guild of Organists.
Sean Tang-Wang, a distinguished concert pianist, has spent the last two years teaching and coaching at the Pre-College Division of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM). During his tenure, he significantly contributed to curriculum development and provided invaluable advising and mentoring to piano and performance majors.
Sean’s early career is marked by numerous accolades. In 2014, he won first place in the Glendale Piano Competition, second prize in the San Jose International Piano Competition, and was a semi-finalist in the Spotlight Awards Competition. He also won first place in the MTAC Piano Competition. The previous year, he participated in the Ettlingen International Piano Competition and was featured on the front cover of a German weekly newspaper. His success continued with notable achievements in international competitions, such as being a semi-finalist in the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition in 2012 and a finalist in the Virginia Waring International Piano Competition in 2011. In January 2011, he had the honor of performing with the San Diego Symphony alongside the renowned pianist Lang Lang.
Sean’s accolades also include first-place finishes in the Los Angeles Liszt International Piano Competition and the Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition in 2010, which led to a performance at Carnegie Hall. In the same year, he achieved an impressive three first-place awards in one day at the Southwestern Youth Music Festival in the Concerto, Solo, and Chopin Open categories.