Faculty

Profile

Award-winning pianist Donna Weng Friedman enjoys a distinguished career as a soloist, chamber musician, educator, curator, producer, and filmmaker. Donna was selected as one of Musical America's Top 30 Professionals of 2024 for her outstanding contribution to the performing arts. In the special January issue featuring these top professionals, Musical America will announce her latest initiative: Heritage and Harmony: BRAVA Maestra! This project, in partnership with the International Alliance for Women in Music, and WNET/PBS multi-media platform All Arts, aims to spotlight women conductors of color, further demonstrating Donna’s commitment to promoting diversity and inclusivity in the classical music world.

Donna is one of the eight inaugural winners of the Spark Award 2025, presented by The New School. "This award recognizes your outstanding creativity, contributions, and impact within and beyond The New School community. Your work embodies the spirit of innovation and collaboration that defines our university, and we are so pleased to celebrate you."

Donna was inducted into the Steinway & Sons Teacher Hall of Fame in 2023, for her "passionate commitment to teaching and inspiring young people in music" - Gavin English, President of Steinway & Sons Americas.

Donna wrote, directed and produced the award winning documentary short, NEVER FADE AWAY  featuring  Chun Wai Chan, the first principal dancer of Chinese descent in New York City Ballet’s 75-year history. NEVER FADE AWAY  is the true story of how a radio and a waltz changed her immigrant father's life.  History-making dancer Chun Wai Chan  portrays her father as a young man and dances a riveting pas de deux -choreographed exquisitely by Ariel Grossman- with  Xiaoxiao Cao.  The short film premiered at  NYU"s Jack Crystal Theater in celebration of AAPI and Immigrant Heritage Month in May, and has since won forty-six laurels from film festivals worldwide.  Never Fade Away has been selected by the 10,000 Dreams Film Festival to tour the United States and Canada, 2025-2026 season.

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Never Fade Away is archived at the Bob Hope Memorial Library at Statue of Liberty National Monument and Ellis Island in perpetuity by the National Park Service for use in permanent and temporary exhibits, for loan to other institutions, and for research by historians and others interested in the Statue of Liberty and American immigration. 

Never Fade Away is now streaming on PBS Rhode Island's Emmy award-winning series ART Inc. https://watch.ripbs.org/video/never-fade-away-dykxr8/

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A short clip of Never Fade Away was shown on the big screen at Times Square on May 1st in honor of AAPI Heritage Month. Donna has since been featured on CBS Morning Newscast with Cindy Hsu, ABC Eyewitness News, NBC News 4 NY, WPIX 11 News with Magee Hickey, WCBS News Radio and Asian American Life.

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Donna is the inaugural winner of the Women Who Innovate Grant 2023, awarded by the International Alliance for Women in Music, Global Initiatives committee for her "impactful and meaningful" work.

 Her album Heritage and Harmony: Silver Linings, featuring exclusively AAPI/BIPOC artists, garnered two Silver Medals at the 2022 Global. Music Awards. Intended as a response to the wave of violence against Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) individuals, her pandemic EP aims to promote understanding and tolerance among people of all backgrounds.

In collaboration with WQXR, Donna created and produced Heritage and Harmony, a virtual concert series in celebration of Asian Pacific Heritage Month.  Her story was featured on  Asian Americans of New York & New Jersey | WLIW21, a segment of which has been aired on PBS numerous times.

Donna was awarded a 2022 New York Women Composer’s grant. She is the co-creator and co-host of HER/MUSIC;HER/STORY with soprano Allison Charney, 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. Donna is the Artistic Advisor of Ariel Rivka Dance, an all-female dance company.

Donna 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.  On March 8th, 2022, she launched a virtual education program in collaboration with the National Women’s History Museum called Heritage and Harmony: Her Art, Her Voice, featuring leading female BIPOC role models in the arts who share their stories of heritage, their challenges and their triumphs, as they seek to inspire and empower future generations of groundbreaking young women. 

Donna has performed in concert halls worldwide, and appeared as soloist with major symphony orchestras, including the Atlanta, Philadelphia and Shanghai Symphony Orchestras. She has collaborated with world-class artists including Carter Brey, Anthony McGill, Elizabeth Mann, Ani Kavafian, David Shifrin, St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, Paul Neubauer, Marya Martin and Kelly Hall-Tompkins.

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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.  Donna is currently serving as Vice Chair to the Friends of Thirteen Advocacy Board/WNET.  She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University where she was a University Scholar and a Master’s of Music Degree from the Juilliard School where she was a winner of the highly coveted Gina Bachauer Piano Competition as well as the William Petschek full scholarship award. Donna had the honor and privilege of studying with the great pedagogue  Nadia Boulanger and the inimitable pianist Radu Lupu. She is on the piano faculty of the Mannes School of Music.

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Donna 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” interactive classical music app series for children ages 2-8 featuring principal cellist of the NY Philharmonic Carter Brey and flutist Elizabeth Mann, produced by twenty-five-time Grammy Award winner David Frost.

https://www.donnawengfriedman.com/

Degrees Held

• B.A. Princeton University
• M.M. The Juilliard School

Professional Affiliation

• Princeton University:  Director of the Donna Weng Friedman '80 Masterclass Series, Music Department
• Advisory Council Member, Princeton University Music Department
• Mannes College of Music: Prep Division, Piano Faculty
• WNET/Friends of THIRTEEN Board of Directors
• Ariel Rivka Dance Artistic Advisor
• Creator/director: Heritage and Harmony in collaboration with WQXR
• Creator/director: Heritage and Harmony: Her Art, Her Voice in collaboration with the NWHM

Recent Publications

• Heritage and Harmony: Silver Linings, an album featuring AAPI/BIPOC artists in support of the AAPI community https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/donnawengfriedman/heritage-and-harmony-silver-linings
• Heritage and Harmony, a virtual concert video series on WQXR featuring classical musicians of Asian descent https://www.wqxr.org/story/heritage-harmony/
• HER/MUSIC;HER/STORY, a 4 part mini series on WQXR - shining a light on the stories and music of women composers https://www.wqxr.org/shows/her-music-her-story/
• HER/MUSIC;HER/STORY commission The Clara Cycle, music by Kim d. Sherman, poems by Royce Flippin
• Featured on WNET Asian Americans of N.Y. and N.J.: https://www.wliw.org/asian-americans-ny-nj/your-stories/donna-weng-friedman/?fbclid=IwAR1JAFKueh-DjL6radDfUo0-XXq4gfDZvrJgpPht2uJUnP4tTDMk8Cx0XmY
• Featured on Metro Focus, an award winning multi-platform magazine covering news, culture and life around New York :https://www.thirteen.org/metrofocus/2020/05/asian-americans-of-new-york-and-new-jersey/#.XrYp1_daqA8.email
• Featured on All Arts:https://allarts.org/2020/05/donna-weng-friedman-heritage-and-harmony/
• The MusicBee Club, interactive classical music apps for children
• The Swan, featuring Carter Brey, cello  and Donna Weng Friedman, piano , David Frost, producer                               
• Flight of the Bumble Bee, featuring Elizabth Mann, flute and Donna Weng Friedman, piano, David Frost, producer 
• HER/MUSIC;HER/STORY as part of the Centennial Celebration at the NATIONAL WOMEN'S HISTORY MUSEUM https://www.womenshistory.org/season-hope?fbclid=IwAR0GJeBF9J3KvsqdCP06sKgZHy-RAnsUXhp8CIpQQy6SI9j5SR_4A-ohD94
• https://music.princeton.edu/events/donna-weng-friedman-%E2%80%9980-master-class-series
• Guest speaker on TEDx Making Waves: https://tedxsantabarbara.com/2020/donna-weng-friedman-pandemic-empowerment-finding-resilience-in-music-and-stories/
• Interview with Classical Archives:https://vlog.classicalarchives.com/2021/04/26/powerful-ways-to-express-our-support-for-our-asian-american-neighbors-and-musicians/
• Interview with DM Life and Business  online Magazine https://www.dmmagazine.org/donna
• Interview with I Care If You Listen:https://icareifyoulisten.com/2021/05/5-questions-to-donna-weng-friedman-pianist/
• BroadwayWorld:https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Pianist-Donna-Weng-Friedman-Releases-New-EP-Heritage-And-Harmony-Silver-Linings-Featuring-AAPIBIPOC-Artists-20210501

Performances and Appearances

Link to my new album Heritage and Harmony: Silver Linings, featuring AAPI/BIPOC artists in support of our AAPI community https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/donnawengfriedman/heritage-and-harmony-silver-linings   A recent Artist's Portrait, where I share stories of  the AAPI artists featured on my album Heritage and Harmony: Silver Linings: https://vimeo.com/541094937   My family story: WNET, Asian Americans of NY and NJ   My appearance on TEDx program Making Waves: https://tedxsantabarbara.com/2020/donna-weng-friedman-pandemic-empowerment-finding-resilience-in-music-and-stories/   wqxr.org - Heritage Harmony - my video series featuring stories and music os leading AAPI musicians

wqxr.org - Her Music Her Story. my radio mini series on WQXR that shines a light on the stories and music of women composers, past and present

New releases on Spotify: Daisies, by Sergei Rachmaninoff, Carter Brey, principal cellist of the NY Philharmonic, Donna Weng Friedman, pianist

The Swan, by Camille Saint-Saens, Carter Brey, principal cellist of the NY Philharmonic, Donna Weng Friedman, pianist - produced by David Frost, 19 time Grammy Award winning producer: https://open.spotify.com/album/1FNzrbdU5PG2xYc1vyEmtU

Research Interests

• Teaching children how to understand and connect with the inherent narrative in classical music.
• Shining a light on under appreciated and over looked women composers, past and present, sharing their stories as well as their music.
• Spotlighting classical musicians of Asian descent performing music by Asian composers, sharing their stories of heritage during a time of increasing racial bias against Asians:https://allarts.org/2020/05/donna-weng-friedman-heritage-and-harmony/

• https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/donnawengfriedman/heritage-and-harmony-silver-linings New album featuring AAPI/BIPOC artists in support of the AAPI community

Awards And Honors

• Princeton University:  University Scholar 1976-1980, Sachs Scholarship Award
• Juilliard School:  Gina Bachauer Piano competition,  William Petschek Full Scholarship Award
• Silver Medal, Global Music Awards 2022 for Outstanding Concept Album, Heritage and Harmony: Silver Linings
• Silver Medal, Global Music Awards 2022 for Outstanding Instrumentalists, Heritage anda Harmony: Silver Linings

Portfolio

wqxr.org - Heritage Harmony

wqxr.org - Her Music Her Story

WNET, Asian Americans of NY and NJ

Princeton University Masterclass Series

NATIONAL WOMEN'S HISTORY MUSEUM