Margaret Cheng Tuttle, pianist

Invitation to April 8, 2022 Menotomy Concert

Performer bios

Margaret earned her Master of Music degree in piano performance at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.  As winner in both the Piano Honors Competition and the Commencement Competition, she performed live on WGBH radio and was a soloist in the Ravel piano concerto with the Conservatory’s symphony orchestra.  She completed undergraduate studies in her home state, earning Highest Distinction in music and mathematics from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

She has developed an extensive career as a performer and teacher in the Boston area and beyond.  She serves on the Board of Directors of the New England Piano Teachers Association (NEPTA) and is a frequent adjudicator for competitions held by the Massachusetts Music Teachers Association and NEPTA.

During her childhood and college years in Lincoln, Nebraska, her primary teacher was Beth Miller Harrod, a student of the legendary Josef Lhevinne.  In addition to her studies at New England Conservatory, she studied privately with Seymour Lipkin of the Juilliard School, Ronald Copes of the Juilliard String Quartet, Eugene Drucker of the Emerson String Quartet, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. She has spent summers studying in Colorado, at the Aspen Music Festival and Rocky Ridge Music Center, as well as in Maine, at the Kneisel Hall Music Festival in Blue Hill.

Margaret has been an active soloist, chamber musician, and teacher in the Boston area, the Midwest, and beyond. She has performed concertos by Mozart, Ravel, Beethoven, and Chopin, as soloist with orchestras including the Omaha Symphony and New England Conservatory Symphony Orchestra. She has given concerts at the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Sheldon Art Gallery in Lincoln, Nebraska, University of Wisconsin-Madison, VanderCook College of Music in Chicago, MacDowell Music Club in Janesville, Wisconsin, and Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra Auxiliary in Illinois. Boston area performances include concerts at Jordan Hall, Harvard University, Boston University, MIT, Tufts University, Brandeis University, and the Berklee College of Music, as well as libraries in Newton, Weston, and Brookline.  She played the Poulenc Sextet with the principal winds of the Indian Hill Symphony, and was a member of the Serenata Chamber Musicians. Margaret has performed live on WGBH-Boston radio, with additional television and radio broadcasts in Israel, Wisconsin and Nebraska.  She performed with her cousin, soprano Mei-Ching Chen, at the Wach Music School in Taiwan and with pianist Jon Sigurdsson in Reykjavik, Iceland.  She was an invited performer for the 50th anniversary celebration of Rocky Ridge Music Center in Estes Park, Colorado.

Margaret has a special interest in performing music by living composers.  Lior Navok and Harry Chalmiers have written pieces specifically for her.  She performed Samuel Adler’s virtuosic Sonata for Two Pianos with Stephen Halloran, to critical acclaim from the composer and audience.

As a teacher at the Rivers Music School in Weston, Massachusetts, Margaret was a dynamic member of the piano faculty for 14 years, where she had a loyal following of students, and many earned honors.  She commissioned new music for her students, some of whom were then invited to perform at Harvard University and Berklee School of Music.  She was Co-Chair of the Faculty Artists Concert Series for six years.  She was a Founder and Co-Chair of Piano Panorama, an innovative series of classes for piano students.  She has also taught at the Brookline Music School, Indian Hill Arts, MIT, and privately.

She is the recipient of a Young Alumni Achievement Award from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.  She was named a United States Presidential Scholar upon graduation from high school, for outstanding accomplishment in academics, leadership, and the arts.

Outside of music, she is a psychiatrist at MGH and has a small private practice. She completed medical school and residency at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and holds a Master of Science degree in mathematics from MIT.

See Margaret’s concert schedule and see photos and bios of her chamber music collaborators. See pictures from a piano four hands concert with Yilin You on the PACC concert series in Arlington.  See a concert announcement in Icelandic.

Listen to some performances:

Margaret is married to Mark Tuttle.