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Yolanda Tapia

Yolanda is a Mexican pianist currently based in London, Ontario. She was a Fulbright Scholar from 2012-2014 and won a grant from the Veracruz State for academic excellence. She has won many competitions including second prize at the Chamber Music National Competition in Mexico City, first and second prizes at the CSU concerto competition, first place in the Concerto Competition with Xalapa Symphony Orchestra, and two-time finalist at the "Maria Clara Cullell" International piano competition in San Jose Costa Rica. She was a recipient of the Manuel M. Ponce prize for best chamber music-group at the Chamber Music Festival in Aguas Calientes, Mexico and a prize winner in chamber music at Kiwanis Festival in London, Canada. 

A native from Xalapa, Mexico, Yolanda was a full time collaborative pianist for four years at the Institute of Music of Veracruz State. She performed concertos with Xalapa Symphony Orchestra and CSU Symphony orchestra and has participated as a collaborative pianist of the Veracruz State Youth Orchestra, CSU Symphony Orchestra, and CU Symphony Orchestra.  Yolanda has performed at international chamber music festivals such as:, the Académie Musicale de Morges in Switzerland, Orvieto Musica in Italy, San Miguel de Allende Chamber Music Festival and Aguas Calientes Chamber Music Festival in Mexico. In the summer of 2016 Yolanda attended Bowdoin International Music Festival as a collaborative piano fellow, where she studied with Pei-Shan Lee and played for the studios of Paul Katz, Steven Doan, Janet Jing, Renee Jolles and Linda Chesis.

She earned her BM in piano performance from the University of Veracruz and MM in collaborative piano from Colorado State University. She studied for a year with Margaret McDonald, Alexandra Nguyen, and Mitsumi Moteki at the University of Colorado in Boulder. During her studies at CU, she spent time researching the music and lyrics by the indie-rock band Radiohead.

 Currently, she is a DMA candidate at the University of Western Ontario studying with John Hess. Yolanda's research interests are in the study of history, politics, and rhythm of twentieth century Mexican composers and the development of collaborative piano education in Mexico.  Other special interests are the convergent evolution in rock culture and the study of hard rock, metal, and indie music. 

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