Dr. Grier Williams School of Music presents Tu Masters Piano Duo

The University of West Florida Dr. Grier Williams School of Music will present The Tu Masters Piano Duo, performing “AS ONE: Celebrating Great Piano Duos of the Past” on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026. The concert will be held in the Rolfs Music Hall at the Center for Fine and Performing Arts on the UWF Pensacola campus. 

In this vivacious and engaging program, duo-pianists Richard Masters and Hsiang Tu celebrate five great piano duos of the past: Guy Maier and Lee Pattison, Harold Bauer and Ossip Gabrilowitsch, Myra Hess and Irene Scharrer, Beryl Rubinstein and Arthur Loesser, and Abram Chasins and Constance Keene. These unusual selections do not appear on most modern programs yet represent a significant contribution to the duo repertoire.

Richard Masters is a pianist and opera coach/conductor based in Blacksburg, Virginia, where he is associate professor of piano and collaborative piano at Virginia Tech’s School of Performing Arts. He has collaborated with Grammy-winning baritone Donnie Ray Albert and flutist Valerie Coleman, and he has performed under the baton of the late Lorin Maazel. Recent performances include the appearances at the English Music Festival in Oxfordshire, American Cathedral in Paris and Nixon Library in California. Chicago Tribune critic Howard Reich named his Albany Records disc of American art songs as one of the “best classical recordings of 2020.” A Yamaha Artist, Masters holds degrees from Eastman, Juilliard and the University of Colorado.

Hsiang Tu has been an assistant professor of piano at the University of Florida since 2022. During that time, he has released two albums, including a recording of the complete works for solo piano by Maurice Ravel in January 2026. Last fall alone, he performed and gave masterclasses in Croatia, Peru, Taiwan and the United Kingdom. Born and raised in Taipei, Tu moved to the United States as a teenager and earned a BM degree from the University of Calgary and MM and DMA from The Juilliard School. He enjoys building Lego sets and playing video games in his spare time.

This event is free and open to the public, but tickets are required. For tickets or more information, visit uwf.edu/cfpa or call the CFPA box office at 850.857.6285.