About Grace Chang      Grace showed many musical talents as a child, and, by age 14, she was the concertmaster of the Yang Ming Middle Schools' Chinese Music Orchestra. The group won first prize in the National Contest for Taiwan, and was immediately invited to perform in Japan and Korea. But this was only the beginning of her journey in music. She pursued several instruments, and then began her study of the zheng with the masters in 1979. Her three teachers in Taiwan, Wei De-Liang, Wei De-Dong, and Chen Kuo-Xin, are considered the three earliest pioneers for zheng music in Taiwan.

     Grace came to the USA in 1984, and continued to study zheng music with her three teachers from China, Chang Yan, Wan Changyuan, and Liu Wei-Shan. These three teachers are nationally recognized as the best in China. She became the director of the Guangling zheng ensemble in Minnesota in the same year, and earned her second degree in music from the University of Minnesota. In 1996, she arranged and performed music at the Boston Huntington Theater in Massachusetts. In 1997, and she performed in the drama "Journey to West" in the Berkeley Repertory Theater in California. In 1998, she settled in upstate New York, where she performed on numerous occasions and taught hundreds of students.

     The National Council for the Traditional Arts invited Grace to perform for the National Folk Festival in 2001. This year (2004), she has been again invited to perform in Bangor, Maine. Grace Chang has helped to bring the enchanting sounds of the Chinese zheng to many Americans. Whether the Chinese practice calligraphy, Chinese chess, Tai Chi, play the qin, or do Chinese painting, they do so to bring inner peace and strength. Likewise, Grace's performance of Chinese music brings a meditative, tranquil atmosphere into our otherwise busy lives. [an error occurred while processing this directive]