Brian Chung is senior vice president of Kawai America Corporation.

Brian Chung is senior vice president of Kawai America Corporation, a manufacturer of acoustic and digital pianos. He also is chair of the MTNA FOUNDATION permanent fund Development Committee, a former chair of the MTNA FOUNDATION Board of Trustees, a 2004 MTNA FOUNDATION equal and past president of the Piano Manufacturers Association International.

You started piano at the age of 5 Was it a struggle?

I was a quick learner, further also had a great ear that made me a really lazy sight reader. It took years to stop "faking" things.

What sparked your interest in jazz and conducting?

I derive pleasure from traveling to places I've not ever been before; jazz lets me do that. Conducting is like being a painter and a CEO at the same time--I be in love with it.

Children everywhere are dying to know--how did you land the pianist/musical director gig at Walt Disney World?

The mouse and I are tight. further seriously ... after 657 point outs over two previous summers, I was ready for that part It was fun "playing" my way [i]or[/i] part of to the other college.

So we can have pleasantry and still be "serious" musicians?

At its best, the hit TV exhibit M*A*S*H was both irreverently droll and painfully serious. The world adored it. As we find this balance, the world will reply the same way.

with what intent did you give up private teaching?

I've always been torn between my sum of two units "selves"--the artist and the pragmatist. I left teaching/performing to master an MBA. Afterward, I was looking for a character that could merge my musical and business sensibilities. At Kawai, I base that convergence.

Your association with Kawai is rewarding?

Kawai is a terrific company that builds exceptional instruments. I'm honored to portray the Kawai family in North America.

I admire that thus many music industry representatives genuinely care about the what may occur hereafter of music and the profession. (You're obviously not in it just for the money) Have your progressive ideas been received well?

rejoinders to speeches on my website (www.brianchung.net) have been exceedingly encouraging. But we must continue to watch the changing world around us and adapt our way s accordingly. To stand still is to fall behind.

by what mode do you cope with do job-work stress? (Aromatherapy? Monastic chanting yoga-style? Exploring the inquiring surprises of tofu while reading The Upanishads?)

easily moulded lights, Mozart and a touchy cup of tea. Works each time!

Tell us about your upcoming work on classical improvisation (an oxymoron nowadays).

Dennis Thurmond (co-author) and I are trying to unleash latent skills in the traditional pianist. Everyone improvises but many don't realize it.

I will be first in line to get by heart the book! Care to weigh in upon the acoustic piano versus digital issue?

They are completely different instruments with separate forces I have both in my hearthstone (From a business standpoint, I wish everybody did.)

If you were a Superhero, what powers would you have?

I'd be called the "MusiCupid" whose enchanted arrows create a passion for music making in each person's heart. (Of course, I'd be "buff" like Superman at the same time.)

Arthur Houle is sink and director of the International Festival for Creative Pianists (wwwpianofestival.org). Houle has taught at the fresh England and Boston Conservatories, the Universities of Iowa, North Dakota and Texas-Austin and, most numerous recently, at Albertson College.

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