Donna Weng Friedman

Award winning pianist Donna Weng Friedman enjoys a varied career as a soloist, chamber musician, teacher, curator and app developer. Her new EP Heritage and Harmony: Silver Linings, featuring exclusively AAPI/BIPOC artists, aims to promote understanding and tolerance and combat racism, with all proceeds donated to supporting the AAPI community.

In collaboration with WQXR, Ms. Weng Friedman created and produced Heritage and Harmony, a virtual concert video series in celebration of Asian Pacific Heritage Month. She is the co-creator and co-host of HER/MUSIC;HER/STORY, a mini-series on WQXR, as well as a concert series that shines a light on women composers, past and present. She was the guest speaker on TEDx Santa Barbara’s series Making Waves: Conversations with Influencers and Disruptors.

In January and April 2021, Donna Weng Friedman was the featured guest artist on the National Women’s History Museum’s series NWHM Presents: Sundays@Home, honoring women whose activism and talents serve to inspire others. In collaboration with the National Women’s History Museum, Ms. Weng Friedman is working on creating two new educational programs in 2022 featuring leading female BIPOC role models in the arts, dedicated to school age girls of color.

Ms. Weng Friedman has performed in concert halls worldwide, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and the 92nd St. Y and appeared as soloist with major symphony orchestras, including the Atlanta, Philadelphia and Shanghai Symphony Orchestras. An avid chamber musician, she has collaborated with St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, Carter Brey, Ani Kavafian, David Shifrin, Elizabeth Mann, Kelly Hall-Tompkins and Anthony McGill. Ms. Weng Friedman has conducted master classes at the Shanghai and Beijing conservatories and is on the faculty of the Mannes School of Music.

The curator of the Donna Weng Friedman ’80 Master Class Series at Princeton University, she is also a member of Princeton University Music Department’s Advisory Council as well as the board of directors of Friends of Thirteen and WNET. Ms. Weng Friedman received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University where she was a University Scholar and a Masters of Music Degree from the Juilliard School, under the tutelage of Adele Marcus, where she was awarded the prestigious Gina Bachauer Award as well as the William Petschek Full Scholarship. She has had the privilege of working with the great composer/teacher Nadia Boulanger as well as pianist Radu Lupu.

She was the music supervisor and recording artist for the award-winning film documentary “Frames of Life” as well as for the documentaries “Living Liberty” and “Morris Engle: The Independent.” Ms. Weng Friedman created “The Music Bee Club,” an interactive classical music app series for children ages 2-8 featuring world class musicians, such as cellist Carter Brey and flutist Elizabeth Mann, produced by 19-time Grammy Award winner David Frost.