December 3, 2018

Ball State graduate and Grammy Award-winning pianist Angelin Chang will perform on Sunday, December 9, as a part of the University’s Centennial Celebration. She will be accompanied by the Burris student orchestra and choir throughout part of the performance.

Angelin Chang holds GRAMMY awardSponsored by Teachers College as a part of a Burris Weekend Celebration, Chang’s performance will be in Emens Auditorium at 2 p.m. This event is free and open to the public, no tickets necessary.

Chang is the first American female, and the first pianist of Asian heritage, awarded the Grammy for Best Instrumental Soloist with Orchestra, which she won in 2007 for her recording of Olivier Messiaen's “Oiseaux Exotiques” with the Cleveland Chamber Symphony.

“Having someone of her stature and connection to the community as a part of our Centennial Celebration is such an honor,” said Roy Weaver, interim dean of the Teachers College. “She represents the level of excellence and the values – skill, described by one critic as ‘technical brilliance,’ creativity, intellect, commitment to education, compassion, and global engagement through performance and teaching – to which our college is committed.”

A graduate of Burris Laboratory School, Chang attended Ball State, where she received degrees in music and French. She earned her master of music from Indiana University and a doctor of musical arts from the Peabody Institute of the John Hopkins University.

“President Geoff Mearns was dean of the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State when she graduated with a law degree, and he presented her with her JD diploma,” said Weaver. “She has also performed at the U.S. Department of State, for the United Nations Women’s Organization in Nepal, and for World AIDS Day in New York for the United Nations before the secretary-general.”

Among her other accomplishments, Chang was the first artist-in-residence at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and assisted in the development of its Performing the Arts for Everyone initiative, which has worked in increase access to the arts.

Chang said Ball State provided her with an excellent education. “If it weren’t for the opportunities Ball State offers,” she said, “I would not be where I am today."

By Gabrielle Glass