THE FELICI PIANO TRIO is the musical home of Belgian pianist Steven Vanhauwaert, German violinist Rebecca Hang, and American cellist Brian Schuldt. Felici members are prize-winners of the Los Angeles Liszt, Yellow Springs, and Osaka music competitions. The vibrant threesome has performed over 350 concerts in Europe, South America and the U.S., and has distinguished itself as a unique presence on the national music scene since coming to Mammoth Lakes as grantee of Chamber Music America’s Rural Residencies Program and as a California Arts Council’s (CAC) Touring Roster ensemble.
Through Chamber Music Unbound, a nonprofit arts organization, Felici presents a full winter concert season and summer festival with international guests, directs a chamber workshop, leads a music school, and performs “Kids Concerts” for elementary, middle and high schools.
Outreach events for adults include music appreciation classes, instrumental lessons and chamber orchestra classes in collaboration with Cerro Coso College. The group recently received a Creating Public Value grant from the California Arts Council (CAC) to design and implement bilingual outreach programs for elementary school children. Felici was also a recipient of a three-year Artists-in-Residence grant, a Youth Education in the Arts grant, and an Exemplary Grant from the CAC.
The ensemble has concertized in Germany under the auspices of Rhineland-Palatinate’s Kultursommer, and appeared on 3SAT and ZDF Television as well as recorded for German Southwest Radio (SWF).
Felici has recorded four CDs: Chamber Music of Women Composers; Tchaikovsky’s Trio in A Minor; a 2004 live recording of Beethoven’s “Ghost” Trio and Brahms’ Trio op. 87; and Ravel’s Piano Trio and Saint-Saëns Piano Trio, op. 18. Along with the traditional repertoire, Felici regularly programs works by female and contemporary composers.
More info at: http://www.felicitrio.com/
STEVEN VANHAUWAERT, PIANO 
Hailed by the Los Angeles Times for his “impressive clarity, sense of structure and monster technique,” pianist Steven Vanhauwaert has garnered a wide array of accolades, including the Grand Prize at the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition.
To date, Mr. Vanhauwaert has appeared in major venues such as the Concertgebouw in Brugge, Segerstrom Hall in Costa Mesa, Bovard Auditorium in Los Angeles, the Singel in Antwerp, the Great Hall of the Brussels Conservatory, the Great Hall of the Budapest Liszt Conservatory, as well as numerous other prestigious venues in Bulgaria, Hungary, China, the U.S., the Netherlands, France, Canada, the U.K., Austria, and Spain.
His China solo tour in June 2010, culminating with a debut at the renowned National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing, was received with great critical acclaim, leading to an immediate re-invitation for the next season.
In 2010, his first album with works by Schumann, Schubert, Liszt, Chopin, and Debussy was well received in the press. His performances have been broadcast live on networks such as K-MZT, K-CSN, K-USC, K-PFK, W-HKB, W-UOT, K-UAT, W-FMT, RTBF, WTV, PBS, and KLARA.
REBECCA HANG, VIOLIN
Violinist Rebecca Hang was born in Germany and began her violin studies at the Peter-Cornelius-Conservatory in Mainz with Helga Waehdel. From 1987 until 1990, she lived in Israel where she studied with the renowned concertmaster of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Chaim Taub. Ms. Hang continued her musical education with Atar Arad and Paul Biss at Indiana University, Bloomington, where she received her Bachelors of Music “with high distinction” and a Masters of Music in violin performance.
As member of the internationally reputable Felici String Quartet, she won first prize in the 1992 Michael Kuttner Competition at Indiana University, the MTNA Competition in Indianapolis, and the Russell Award of the 1993 Coleman Competition, and was also a prize-winner of the International String Quartet Competition in Osaka, Japan, in 1993.
In June of 1993, Ms. Hang gave her New York solo debut in Lincoln Center’s Juilliard Theater, performing Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante. As member of the first violin section of the International “Guido Cantelli” Chamber Orchestra in Milan, Italy, she toured throughout Europe and the U.S. before accepting the NEA Rural Residency Grant with the Felici Piano Trio in Mammoth Lakes, CA, in 1998.
Ms. Hang dedicates much of her time to Chamber Music Unbound’s Music School, teaching more than 125 violin students in weekly group and individual lessons. Through her pedagogical work she hopes to nurture children’s innate musicality and lay the foundations for a lasting love of great music.
BRIAN SCHULDT, CELLO
As a founding member of the Felici Piano Trio, cellist Brian Schuldt has performed hundreds of critically acclaimed concerts in the U.S., Europe and South America.
His chamber music collaborations include renowned artists such as Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Edward Auer, Atar Arad, Corey Cerovsek, Hagai Shaham and Eli Eban. Mr. Schuldt was the cellist of the Arcadia String Quartet, which won the grand prize of the 1995 Yellow Springs Chamber Music Competition and the Indiana University Kuttner Quartet Scholarship.
He has appeared as soloist with the Oak Ridge Symphony, Auburn Symphony, Owensboro Symphony, Eastern Sierra Symphony and the Chamber Orchestra “Cantelli” of Milan, Italy. He has served as guest principal cellist for the Fresno Philharmonic, the Owensboro Symphony and “Cantelli.”
Mr. Schuldt studied with Toby Saks at the University of Washington and continued under Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi and Janos Starker at Indiana University, where he earned his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees.
He has been a guest lecturer/instructor at Indiana University, University of Tennessee and Tennessee Tech. From 1994–1996, Mr. Schuldt held the appointment of Assistant Instructor of Cello at Indiana University. He is currently Executive Director of Chamber Music Unbound.