Ouachita Stories

Ouachita Baptist University will host The Three Pianists in a free concert on Tuesday, March 29, at 7:30 p.m. in Mabee Fine Arts Center’s McBeth Recital Hall.

The Three Pianists is a unique piano ensemble group comprised of Dr. Hee-Kyung Juhn, director of keyboard studies at Henderson State University and a native of South Korea; Dr. Naoki Hakutani, assistant professor of piano at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and a native of Japan; and Dr. Lei Cai, associate professor of piano at Ouachita and a native of China.

“The Three Pianists is specialized in performing six-hand and four-hand piano works of different combinations, meaning we use one or two pianos,” Cai explained. “We are especially interested in promoting newly written works, which are in various styles and with different cultural influences.”

The March 29 program includes a sonata in classical style, a Chinese piece, three tangos by Piazzolla, two selections by Gershwin, one movement by G. Crumb and three etudes by F. Wanek.

Dr. Hee-Kyung Juhn earned her Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School and her Doctor of Music degree from Indiana University. She has participated in music festivals such as Tanglewood, Aspen, Bowdoin and Yale Piano Summer Institute. A versatile pianist, Juhn has worked as an opera coach, staff accompanist and church music director as the organist and choir master.

Dr. Naoki Hakutani earned his Master of Music degree from Indiana University prior to receiving his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin, where he served as a teaching assistant in the piano department. Hakutani was a prizewinner of the Young Texas Artists Competition in 2001 and is the pianist of the Auberon Trio, which received Second Prize at the 2005 WRR Chamber Music Competition in Dallas, Texas.

Dr. Lei Cai earned his Master of Music degree from the University of Tennessee and his Doctor of Music degree from Florida State University. He has collaborated with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra on recordings and has recorded for Radio Shanghai. His performance of Rachmaninoff's First Piano Concerto was described by the Knoxville News-Sentinel as "one of the finest performances of this work. … Cai displayed a power and crispness of technique that would make any soloist proud."

For more information, contact Dr. Lei Cai at [email protected] or (870) 245-5274.

By Meg Gosser