• Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance 2006, in progress @ University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music
• Master of Music, San Francisco Conservatory of Music
            Concentration:  Piano Performance
• Bachelor of Arts, University of California, Los Angeles 
            Concentration:  Music Education and Piano Performance
• Aspen Music Festival and School, June-August 2005, Aspen Colorado.

Ms. Kristal Bang teaches piano privately to students of intermediate and advance levels in Cincinnati. She is also an active performer as a soloist and accompanist for various ensembles. She has just moved to the city from California, San Francisco, where she had worked with the American Conservatory of Theatre and the San Francisco Boys Choir as an accompanist and theory instructor.

Born and raised in South Korea, Ms. Kristal Bang started music studies at the age of eight. Her early training consisted of private piano lessons and classes in solfege, singing, ear training, and theory. During the first year of her studies, she received the fourth place at the National Korean Piano Competition, which served as a starting point for her career as a pianist. After she immigrated to U.S., she continued her study at the preparatory division of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music under Ms. Tomoko Hagiwara. She won several local competitions and Honorary Scholarships at the Conservatory. She performed in many different venues, as a solo recitalist, in chamber ensembles, and as the winner of the Annual Concerto Competition with the Marin Symphony Youth Orchestra, successively in the year 1995 and 1996.

For her undergrad studies, Ms Bang attended UCLA, where she originally intended to study pre-med. After two years, however, she reaffirmed her passion for music and started studying privately with Mr. Walter Ponce as a music major and began performing again. Along with performing, she also studied piano pedagogy and extensive music education courses which enabled her to gain extensive knowledge and experience in teaching children. She continued to pursue her master's degree at the SF Conservatory of Music, under private instruction of Prof. Mack McCray and performed actively as a soloist, accompanist, and chamber ensemble pianist.

Ms. Bang now attends College-Conservatory of Music at University of Cincinnati for her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano performance.

AWARDS/ ACHIEVEMENTS

• Piano Department " Outstanding Achievement Award", San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 2003
• Prague International Piano Festival, July 2004, Prague Czech Republi 
  Performed in public concerts hosted by the Prague International Festival
• Zephyr Music Festival, July 2003, Courmayeur Italy
  Performed in public concerts held in Aosta and Courmayeur, northern cities in Italy, within various chamber ensembles
• Shandelee Music Festival, August 2002, New York
  Performed in a concert given by Shandelee Music Concert Series 
• "Fisher-Klein Educational Award", University of California, Los Angeles, 1998