Named a Gilmore Festival Fellow, pianist-composer Eric Tran has performed in Italy, Korea, China, Canada, and in over 20 states in the United States. He has appeared in music festivals such as PianoTexas, Aspen, Art of the Piano, Gilmore, and Chautauqua. His principal studies were with pianists Sharon Mann, Thomas Schultz, and Christopher Taylor; and with composers Jaroslaw Kapuscinski and Laura Schwendinger.
Eric is a graduate of Stanford University, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and the Mead Witter School of Music. During his studies, he was the winner of the concerto competitions of all three institutions, and he was awarded the prestigious Robert M. Golden Medal for outstanding contributions to the arts. He has won awards from the Wideman Piano Competition and the American Prize, and has been invited to compete at the US Chopin National and Virginia Waring International Competitions. As a composer, he won the Pacific Musical Society Composition Prize, and his sets of children’s music have been programmed for eight years on the syllabus of the US Open Music Competition. His music has been performed by the St. Lawrence String Quartet and the Friction Quartet, and his debut album, Water, was supported by Stanford University’s Young Alumni Arts Grant.
He comprises one half of the notorious “Happy Dog” piano duo with his longtime friend and piano partner, Nathan Cheung. They won the 1st prize and Abild American Music Award at the Ellis Duo-Piano Competition, hosted by the National Federation of Music Clubs; 1st prize at the inaugural MTNA-Stecher and Horowitz Two Piano Competition; and 1st prize at the Ohio International Duet and Duo Piano Competition. For over a decade, they have performed four-hands originals, transcriptions, and classics alike with a focus on bringing humor and joy to the classical music world.