2020 USOMC Staff Pianists
Lindsey Huff -Breitschaedel
Lindsey Breitschaedel began working as a collaborative artist at the University of Redlands while she studied piano, organ, harpsichord and voice as a Musical Studies major. During a semester abroad in Salzburg, Austria, she fell in love with the classical music-based culture there. After completing a Masters Degree in Piano Accompanying at the San Francisco Conservatory, she moved to Salzburg and later Vienna to study Opera accompanying at the Konservatorium Wien.
Ms. Breitschaedel currently works as a piano teacher and as a collaborative pianist with First Street Opera, Cantabile Preparatory Children’s Choirs, Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choirs, and as a freelance performer all over the Bay Area. She enjoys performing with singers as well as with instrumentalists. Recent engagements include working with Peninsula Women’s Chorus, Santa Clara University, Stanford University, Just Opera, Opera on the Lake, San Francisco Conservatory Preparatory Department and the US Open Music Competition.
Anny Cheng 
Anny Cheng, a native of Taiwan, came to the United States to pursue her career in Collaborative Piano. Anny is an active pianist and she has collaborated numerous concerts with singers, instrumentalists and choirs in the major cities in the United States, Europe and Taiwan. She was invited as a guest artist with Arizona MusicFest and joined the faculty of the Tanglewood Institute’s Young Artist Vocal Program as a principal Vocal Coach and Musical Director. She also joined the staff pianist at Viola Workout in Crested Butte, Colorado. Anny served as a coach and staff pianist at Cy-Fair College in Houston. Anny completed her Doctoral degree in Collaborative Piano at Arizona State University, Graduate Performance Diploma in Collaborative Piano at Longy School of Music and Master of Music in Piano Accompanying and Coaching at Westminster Choir College.
Jonathan Chesson
Jonathan Chesson has performed as a soloist and collaborative pianist in various parts of the world. Jonathan started playing piano at the age of 4 and has competed in various competitions around the world in the years following, including the Isabel Scionti Competition and the Vladmir Horowitz Competition for Young Pianists. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Piano Performance from Hillsdale College in 2009, and his Master’s in Piano Performance from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music in 2012. In the year following graduation, Jonathan was hired as an adjunct professor of piano and staff accompanist at Hillsdale College, where he worked until August 2016. He has also served as a jury member in various competitions, as well as faculty accompanist to the Edward Auer Summer Piano Workshop for multiple years. Jonathan continues his teaching and musical performance in San Diego, where he currently resides.
Nathan Cheung
Known for his versatility as a soloist, collaborator, composer, and improviser, Nathan Cheung maintains an active performing career while completing his doctoral studies at the Eastman School of Music under Natalya Antonova. He received two MM degrees also at Eastman in both the Piano Performance and the Accompanying and Chamber Music programs, during which he studied with Drs. Jean Barr and Nelita True. Nathan also received his BA in Music with honors from Stanford University where he studied with pianist Thomas Schultz and composer Jaroslaw Kapuscinski. Nathan has claimed the 1st prize in the LA International Piano Competition and Aspen Concerto Competition, and he has won top prizes in the Wideman International Piano Competition and Lewisville Lake Symphony International Competition. He has also succeeded in international duo competitions and toured the country as a member of Happy Dog Duo with pianist-composer, Eric Tran.
Nicholas Dold
Pianist Nicholas Dold has an active career performing regularlyacross the United States. He has been a featured artist for Minnesota PublicRadio, the Music Teachers Association of California (MTAC), Chamber MusicSilicon Valley, the Santa Cruz Baroque Festival, the Orchestral Institute of NapaValley, and the University of Alaska – Fairbanks.
A committed educator, Nicholas currently serves on the pianofaculty at Santa Clara University. He has held a concurrent appointment on thecoach/accompanying staff of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music since 2013.
He received his graduate and undergraduate degrees atIndiana University. Visit www.nicholasdold.comfor more information.
Christine Fernandez
Christine grew up playing piano based on a strong foundation through the Suzuki Method. With the guidance of her parents, who have been Suzuki Piano Method teachers for more than 30 years, Christine performed all solo graduation and master course recitals throughout her studies on the Suzuki method. She competed for numerous competitions and performed with many orchestras. She’s won in various venues such as East Bay Music Festival, MTAC Alameda County Branch Memorial Scholarship Foundation Auditions, Holy Names University Concerto Competition, Palo Alto Philharmonic Concerto Competition, and subsequently performed with Berkeley Youth Orchestra, Holy Names University Orchestra, and Palo Alto Philharmonic Orchestra. At age 16, Christine started to study at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She holds a BA in Piano Performance. In addition to her parents, her teachers include Roy Bogas, Sharon Mann and Mack McCray. She has been assisting and coaching in the Tchii’s Piano School of Music in lessons, ensemble classes, music theory classes, and concerto competitions. Furthermore, she has been in demand for her accompanying in the East Bay Area. Currently she is a staff accompanist and clinician at Holy Names University and Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir.
Kim Lee
Kim Lee holds a B.S. and M.A. in Piano Performance from Seoul National University (SNU)
where she graduated with distinction. She appeared in many recitals in Korea and Japan as a soloist and a chamber musician. She has performed with the SNU Symphony Orchestra and the Daejon Symphony Orchestra as a soloist and has worked as the staff pianist for music festivals. In the Chicago area, where she lived for 16 years, she performed for students in Indian Prairie School District, Wheaton Conservatory of Music and as a staffpianist for Young Naperville Singers and Naperville Central High School. In 2017, she relocated to the Bay Area, and she is enjoying a busy life as a collaborative pianist, working with various instrumentalists. She is a staff pianist at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Pre College.
Melissa Lin
Melissa Lin has been teaching and performing in the Bay Area since 2000.
Most recently Melissa was Director of Musical Performance at Santa Clara University, where she managed the Private Instruction Program. She was also a staff pianist and adjunct professor of piano at SCU, where she worked with instrumental and vocal students, and performed in student and faculty recitals. As a freelance musician, Melissa has served as rehearsal pianist with Opera San Jose, and West Bay Opera.
A graduate of SUNY College at Purchase, the Curtis Institute of Music, and the Cleveland Institute of Music, Melissa studied with Sophia Rosoff, Vladimir Sokoloff, and Anne Epperson. She has performed extensively in the US, Japan, France, Belgium, with radio broadcasts in France and Belgium. Melissa was previously a staff accompanist at Encore School for Strings, and a full time staff accompanist at the University of the Pacific, Conservatory of Music, in Stockton, CA.
Christopher Salocks
Christopher Salocks received his Masters and Doctoral degrees from Stanford University, where he studied with Adolph Baller.
He participated in master classes of pianists Adele Marcus and Ivan Moravec, and has taught at Skyline College, Foothill College, De Anza College, and Stanford University.
For a number of years, he served as an official piano accompanist in the Music Teachers National Association state, regional, and national auditions, and he has performed at Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
For over twenty-five years, he accompanied Van Cliburn Competition winner Jon Nakamatsu, and has appeared with Nakamatsu in two-piano concerts.
Chen Woo
Chen Woo is one of the most highly sought-after collaborative pianists in the Bay Area.
She frequently collaborates with internationally-renowned musicians, including Lan Rao, Edna Garabedian, Richard Lin, Bin Huang and Haik Kazazyan.
A protégé of the late Maestro William Yannuzzi, music director of the Baltimore Opera Company, Woo received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Piano Performance from Soochow University in Taiwan and her Master of Music degree in Collaborative Piano from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Yi-Fang Wu
As a former English major, Yi-Fang Wu decided to pursue her love of music after graduating from National Tsing-Hua University in Taiwan and came to Cleveland Institute of Music to study with Paul Schenly and Daniel Shapiro for Master of Piano Performance. After obtaining the first master degree, Yi-Fang proceeded to join the Collaborative Piano program with Anita Pontremoli at CIM. Since then, she has collaborated with many wonderful chamber musicians while also maintaining for position as a staff pianist/chamber coach at SFCM Pre-College division. Yi-Fang has performed at the Eastern Music Festival, The Quartet Program, Miami Music Festival, International Music Festival and Workshop in Germany, and Savonlinna Music Festival in Finland.