We are so excited to let you know that Indiana University in Bloomington will be hosting us this year on October 10-11, 2025! Please mark your calendars…music teachers need time connecting with one another. We are so much better together, and our conference Committee has already put in so much work to make your time memorable. We are so excited to see you all there!
For questions regarding the IMTA State Conferences, please contact the IMTA Conference Chair, Caroline Ahn.
IMTA Conference Session Proposals
Before long, we will be accepting proposals for presentations at our state conference. If you have insights, strategies, or innovative ideas to share, we invite you to submit a session proposal. We welcome a variety of topics and formats, including workshops, lectures, and panel discussions. We look forward to your contributions!
Conference Artist/Clinician - Pianist Kate Liu
Pianist Kate Liu has garnered international recognition, notably winning the Third Prize at the 17th International Fryderyk Chopin Competition in Warsaw, Poland. She also received the Best Mazurka Prize, as well as the Audience Favorite Prize awarded by the Polish public through Polish National Radio. Since then she has toured internationally, performing at some of the world’s most renowned venues and collaborating with orchestras around the globe.
As a distinguished soloist, Kate has been presented in numerous prestigious halls, including the Seoul Arts Center, Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, Warsaw National Philharmonic, La Maison Symphonique de Montréal, Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, Severance Hall in Cleveland, Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Shanghai Concert Hall, Osaka Symphony Hall, and the Phillips Collection. Esteemed orchestras she has collaborated with include the Warsaw Philharmonic, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Daegu Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic, Hilton and Head Symphony Orchestra. She is a regular invitee to the Chopin and His Europe Festival in Warsaw, and in 2024, was the recipient of the Olivier Berggruen Prize as part of the Gstaad Menuhin Festival.
In 2025, she released her debut album featuring Beethoven and Brahms sonatas with Orchid Classics.
Born in Singapore, Kate began her piano studies at the age of four and relocated to the United States at age eight. She studied at the Music Institute of Chicago under Emilio del Rosario, Micah Yui, and Alan Chow. Early in her career, she achieved first prizes at the Third Asia-Pacific International Chopin Competition and the New York International Piano Competition. Kate holds a Bachelor’s degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, as well as a Master’s and Artist Diploma from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Robert McDonald and Yoheved Kaplinsk
You can check out her work here: www.kateliu.com
Conference Pedagogy Clinician - Irina Gorin
Over the last 30 years creator of Tales of a Musical Journey method books for beginners Irina Gorin has established a reputation as one of the most prominent piano pedagogues for children in the United States and beyond. Tales of a Musical Journey is the culmination of Gorin’s vast education and teaching experience. The series uniquely blend Russian and world’s teaching methods to prepare beginning piano students for a classical repertoire. Translated into fourteen languages with more coming, tens of thousands of copies of this publication have been sold in more than ninety countries. Irina Gorin currently offers piano pedagogy courses and teaches individual sessions.
Irina Gorin was born in Kyiv, Ukraine. Studied at the Music College in Kyiv and Kharkiv Conservatory (Kharkiv National University of Arts named after I. P. Kotlyarevsky), the leading music institution of higher education in Ukraine. She holds Master’s Degrees in Piano Performance, Piano Pedagogy, Chamber Ensemble, and Accompaniment.
Since 2013, Irina contributed to the enrichment of piano teachers by regularly conducting workshops, lectures, presentation and masterclasses, and judging at national and international piano competitions in many states of America, Canada, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Colombia, Italy, UK, Germany, Spain, Portugal, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Australia.
In order to showcase the talent of young pianists, Irina Gorin founded and served as President of the Carmel Klavier International Piano Competition, which has welcomed performers from all over the world since 2014. From 2020, Carmel Klavier was founded in Colombia as Carmel Klavier Latin America.
Irina Gorin YouTube channel and Tales YouTube channel audience includes nearly 17K followers and the videos were watched millions of times!
You can check out her work here: www.irinagorin.com
Commissioned Composer - Wong Chun-wai
Chun-wai WONG has a versatile composition profile comprising concert music, musicals, and film scores. He often infuses different musical languages to evoke atmospheres and sceneries, engaging audiences with quasi-multimedia-art experiences. He is also interested in incorporating contemporary musical ideas into the (Late) Romantic musical language.
Winning multiple awards across the globe, his compositions are featured in
international events such as the International Rostrum of Composers, ISCM World Music Days, ACL (Asian Composers League) Festival and the Asian Youth Orchestra World Tour; and are published by the PARMA Recordings, Ablaze Records (United States), Europa Musica Publishing (France) among others. His music is performed and recorded by prominent groups and musicians including the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (with Jaap van Zweden, Bright Sheng, Sebastian Perłowski and others), Internationale Ensemble Modern Akademie, performers from the New York Philharmonic and soloists including Dong-Suk Kang and Jan-Erik Gustafsson. He was commissioned a Double Concerto by maestro Jaap van Zweden for his 60 th birthday.
Films he scored are featured in international festivals including the Sound and Image Challenge Festival and Pink City International Short Film Festival. His arrangements have been performed by renowned groups and artists such as Nick Vujicic.
Apart from his creative work, he also authors an online study journal for orchestration, Orchestration Masters (https://orchestrationmasters.wordpress.com ). For more please visit http://www.wongchunwaimusic.com