Mei Rui, piano (Shanghai, China), graduated from Yale, and holds duo-degrees in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry (B.A.) and Music (M.M., A.D.). While pursuing her D.M.A. at Stony Brook, she taught as a Visiting Assistant Professor in Organic and General Chemistry at the City University of New York.  As an educator, she currently works with over forty young pianists in Houston, and teaches yoga at YogaOne Studios. As a soloist, she has played with the Beijing Radio Symphony, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, Manhattan School of Music Philharmonic, Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra, and Yale Philharmonic.  She has performed in Jordan Hall, Carnegie Hall, Steinway Hall, National Concert Hall in Taipei, Beijing Concert Hall, and Shanghai Grand Concert Hall, among others. At Yale, Mei received the Joseph Selden Memorial Award for excellence in the Arts, the Sheffield Scientific Scholarship, the Bruce Simonds Scholarship, and the George W. Miles Scholarship. As a chamber musician, Mei was featured as Artist-in-Residence at Yellow Barn for its 2013-2014 season and has appeared at the Ravinia Festival, Perlman Festival, Taos Festival, Music Academy of the West, Norfolk Festival, and Van Cliburn Piano Institute.  She has collaborated with George Manahan, Shinik Hahm, Paul Katz, Roger Tapping, and Peter Frankl.  In 2013, she played a season-opening concert with violinist Xiang Yu at the Louvre Museum Auditorium in Paris. This summer, she will record Eric Nathan’s solo works for piano, dedicated to her at the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Mei taught at Yale School of Music (Piano, Theory, and Ear Training) and at Yale University (Chemistry, Russian Literature, and Chinese) prior to starting her piano studio in New York and Houston.  She has given masterclasses and coached chamber music groups at the American Festival of the Arts and at the Houston High School of Performing Arts. Mei's awards include the Van Gelder Memorial Award, the McDermett Scholarship, the Lowenthal Fellowship; top prizes in the San Antonio International Piano Competition, Manhattan School of Music Concerto Competition, William Waite Concerto Competition, Stony Brook Concerto Competition, and others. Her most influential piano teachers include Claude Frank, Peter Frankl, Gil Kalish, Phillip Kawin, Jerome Lowenthal, and Robert Mcdonald. Past Yellow Barn musician (2008, 2014 summer season, 2013 Artist Residency)