The violin-viola Luna Duo was formed in November 2006 at Stony Brook Univerisity and has performed with various guest artists such as the Emerson String Quartet, Ani Kavafian, Colin Carr, and Arthur Haas. Under the guidance of Katherine Murdock and Philip Setzer, the duo is a versatile pair that is fluent in all musical styles and has a keen interest in the performance of new and under-performed music.
A native of Potomac, Maryland, violinist Dr. Helen Liu is known for her lyricism and versatile interpretation of various types of music such as Baroque, Contemporary, and even Exotica. Ms. Liu has been noted as “a wonderful player with a huge sound and a sure technique” (Palm Beach Post). For her Bachelor’s degree, she attended University of Maryland, College Park, as a full-scholarship student of Daniel Heifetz. She continued her graduate studies at New England Conservatory in Boston as a student and teaching assistant of James Buswell. In May 2007, Ms. Liu received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Stony Brook University under the guidance of Pamela Frank and Philip Setzer. As an avid chamber musician, her notable collaborations include James Buswell, Carol Ou, Carol Rodland, Ani Kafavian, Colin Carr, Arthur Haas, and the Emerson String Quartet and has participated in many prestigious summer festivals including Aspen Music Festival, Longy International Baroque Institute, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, National Repertory Orchestra, National Orchestral Institute, and the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria. Currently living in Boston, MA, Ms. Liu is an active teacher and freelance musician who plays in various professional ensembles including the Orchestra of Indian Hill, New Bedford Symphony, Gordon College Symphony, and Harvard Baroque Chamber Orchestra. She is currently on the faculty of the Bradford School of Music (North Andover, MA), Hawaii Youth Symphony’s Pacific Music Institute (Honolulu, HI), and teaches privately in Boston and Long Island, NY.
Violist Dr. Lee-Wen Chang was born in Taipei, Taiwan. Ms. Chang has appeared in numerous solo and chamber music performances in Taiwan and the United States. She has won awards in prestigious concerto competitions in Taiwan including the First Prize of the Taipei Viola Competition and the Third Prize of the Taiwan National Viola Competition. She received her Bachelor’s Degree at the National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei where she was a student of Rei-Sei Yang. For her graduate studies, she was a fellowship student at the University of Michigan where she studied with Yizhak Schotten and earned her Master’s Degree. In May 2008, she obtained her Doctor of Musical Arts degree under the guidance of Katherine Murdock at Stony Brook University. She has worked with members of the Emerson String Quartet, Gilbert Kalish, Andrew Jennings, Yehonatan Berick and Ani Kafavian. Ms. Chang has participated in festivals with the Asian Youth Orchestra, Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra, Tanglewood Music Center, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and National Orchestra Institute. She was a member of Asian Artists and Concerts in New York City, is on the viola and piano faculty of Song of Songs and New Song Music Studio, and teaches privately in Long Island and Queens, NY.