Staff Accompanists
Annie Lin
Dr. Annie Lin, adjunct associate professor at Southern Methodist University, is a collaborative pianist working with the string division’s undergraduate and graduate students. She maintains an active private teaching studio as a faculty/co-founder of the Brandeis Piano Conservatory in Richardson, Texas. Dr. Lin has recorded several hundred recordings for college auditions and competitions with young artists on the BPC Recording label. Since 2015, she has been a distinguished College Examiner for the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Canada, conducting piano assessment exams for all levels. She received her degrees from the University of Southern California, studying with renowned pianists and pedagogues John Perry and James Bonn and undertaking summer studies with French pianist Cécile Ousset in Toulouse, France.
Elena Zyl
Elena Zyl, known for her versatility, imagination, and sensitive musicality, is a passionate and devoted advocate of collaborative piano and chamber music, and a piano teacher. She has given recitals with instrumentalists throughout the United States, as well as Japan, Germany, Russia, Poland, Czech Republic, Ukraine, and Belarus.
Born in Minsk, Belarus, Elena made her recital debut at the age of ten. She graduated from the Special Music School for Gifted Children in Minsk and the Belarusian Academy of Music with a Master of Music in Piano Performance.
Her duets with string players, woodwind, vocalists and other instrumentalists gave her a reputation as a first-rate chamber musician and a collaborative artist. In addition, she received multiple awards as the best accompanist in several competitions for young talented artists including Tchaikovsky International competition.
Elena Zyl has served as an official stuff collaborative pianist for many prestigious festivals and competitions such as The Wideman International Piano Competition in Shreveport, LA (since 2007), Lev Aronson Legacy Festival, Dallas, TX ( 2013, 2014 ), The Cooper International Competition, Oberiln, OH ( 2014,2016, 2018, 2023 ), UNT Flute festival, Denton TX (2012, 2013) , The Dallas International Piano Competition ( 2017,2018, 2022 ) and many more.
Elena regularly performs in a piano duo with her husband, Andrey Ponochevny, internationally acclaimed pianist.
Prior to settling in the Dallas area, Elena was a piano faculty member at the Belarusian Academy of Music.
Huan Yang
Dr. Yang serves as a staff collaborative pianist at Texas Christian University and will start a career as an adjunct instructor at Tarrant County College in the fall of 2023. Yang made a concerto appearance with the TCU Symphony Orchestra in 2019 and shared stages with renowned artists at music festivals as a collaborative pianist. She received a DMA degree in piano performance with a cognate in piano pedagogy from TCU. Her main teachers include John Owings, Ann Gipson, the late José Feghali, Alan Chow, and Huazhen Xie. In addition, Yang received a three-year intensive training in piano pedagogy, taught piano courses at a collage-level in various settings, and has maintained a piano studio with 20-30 students. Other than music in the Classical era, Yang has gone on to experiment with church music on both traditional and contemporary styles and jazz music.