Concert pianist Hanbo Ma has appeared on some of the world’s most distinguished stages, earning recognition as one of today’s most compelling young artists. She has performed in solo recitals and with orchestras across Asia, Europe, and North America at acclaimed venues such as  Carnegie Hall in New York, Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, Palais Ehrbar in Vienna, the Liszt Memorial Concert Hall in Budapest, Salle Cortot in Paris, Covert Garden in London, Severance Hall in Cleveland, where at age seventeen her performance of Balakirev’s Islamey received high acclaim. She later garnered further recognition by winning numerous competitions, including the San Jose International Piano Competition, the St. Andrews International Piano Competition, the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition, the George Gershwin International Music Competition, among others, and was the sole recipient of the Cobos Piano Prize by the Eastman School of Music in 2015

Dr. Ma has prominently presented divers concert tours, including an all-Liszt recital tour across North America and Europe, sponsored by the Embassy of Hungary in Washington, D.C., the Liszt Memorial Museum in Budapest, the Hungarian Cultural Center in London, and the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition; a series of concerts and master classes on French and Russian music at institutions such as the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, East Tennessee State University, Biola University, Wuhan Conservator, and the Xi’an Conservatory in China; and more. Most recently, her themed concert tour, Music Around the World, which showcases works by six composers from five countries, has toured major cities such as Shanghai, Los Angeles, Chengdu, Xi’an, and Detroit, with support from Steinway & Sons and Parsons Music.

An active pianist, Dr. Ma not only enjoys solo performances but also collaborating with chamber groups and contemporary composers. She was invited to be one of twelve scholars at the Heartland Chamber Music Festival, where her chamber performance was live-streamed on Kansas Public Radio. She has premiered numerous works, including the world premiere of Ben Kwok’s Sounds From the Lung Fields, Dr. Chih-long Hu’s Formosa Caprices, and Elizabeth A. Baker’s Four Plane, a piece dedicated to Dr. Ma. Her most recent project involves preparing to record and premiere Michael Colina’s Piano Concerto with the Florida Symphony.

A committed educator, Dr. Ma was inducted into the Steinway & Sons Teacher Hall of Fame in 2023 alongside piano pedagogues from prestigious institutions such as The Juilliard School, the New England Conservatory, and the Cleveland Institute of Music. As a distinguished music educator, she serves on juries including the San Francisco International Piano Competition, the New Stage International Piano Competition, and the Steinway Avanti Piano Competition. Dr. Ma has been invited to serve on the faculty of several international music festivals and masterclasses, including the Concerto Camp in Vienna, Austria, the Concordia University Chamber Music Festival, the New Stage International Music Festival, and the Orbifold International Music Festival, in addition to presenting masterclasses worldwide.

Dr. Ma currently serves as Artistic Director of the Cadence Collective Foundation, where she curates concerts for the foundation’s unique series, MUSIC CANVAS: Themed Concert Series, which offers an innovative approach to classical music performance. Each concert is designed around a specific theme, with performers selecting and grouping works accordingly. The programs are accompanied by accessible and engaging introductions that make classical music more relatable to everyday life. This format provides audiences with both an educational and enjoyable experience, earning widespread acclaim. In 2024, Music Around the World embarked on a global tour, and the foundation is now collaborating with artists to create one-of-a-kind performances based on themes such as Dancing on My Instruments, Hidden Gems, and Love and Death, with the aim of reaching audiences worldwide.

Dr. Ma holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music. Her primary teachers include Daniel Pollack, Rebecca Penneys, and Chih-long Hu. While completing her Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance at USC, she also studied composition and orchestral conducting with National Medal of Arts recipient Morten Lauridsen and former Vice President of the New England Conservatory of Music Larry Livingston. Since the onset of the pandemic in 2020, she has been posting free educational online content through her How to Play… series, which has gained significant recognition, gathering over 40,000 subscribers. Her latest CD, From Schumann, With Love, is now available on all major streaming platforms.