Ting-Hua (Arthur) Liang is the baritone saxophonist and a founding member of the Soma Quartet that has been active since 2016. The Soma Quartet received the Grand Prize at the 9th Plowman Chamber Music Competition in 2019. Other awards include Third Place in the 2020 MTNA (Music Teachers National Association) Chamber Music Competition, First Runner-Up in the 2018 Classics Alive Young Artist Competition in Los Angeles, California, and First Prize in the 2017 Chicago Woodwind Ensemble Competition. In April 2021, the Soma Quartet will be represented as the only woodwind ensemble to participate at the 9th International Chesapeake Chamber Music Competition as a finalist.

 

He has performed a wide variety of concerts with the Soma Quartet including recitals at the International Navy Band Symposium, the inaugural American Single Reed Summit, and the North American Saxophone Alliance regional and national conferences. Soma is committed to performing new works to expand the quartet repertoire and has collaborated with several composers from Indiana University. Additionally, Soma has a passion for traditional repertoire and transcriptions, and has performed numerous outreach concerts in venues ranging from retirement centers to coffee shops, as well as the Bloomington Transit Center. These outreach concerts serve to further Soma’s goal of bringing the saxophone to a broader audience.

 

In January of 2019, Arthur made his solo debut recital in Taiwan at the National Concert Hall in Taipei, Taiwan. As a soloist, Arthur was the winner of the MTNA Young Artist Competition for the state round in 2017. He was invited to the inaugural Asian Saxophone Conference Competition as a semi-finalist in 2016. Additionally, Arthur has performed as a member of the Eastman Saxophone Project on a China tour in Beijing, Jinan, Ningbo, and Shanghai in 2016. The ensemble made their Kennedy Center debut in 2015.

 

Arthur performed in master classes with world-renowned saxophonists including Arno Bornkamp, Claude Delangle, Vincent David, Susan Francher, Masataka Hirano, Jerome Laran, Timothy McAllister, Vincent Le Quang, Ken Radnofsky, Idit Shner, John Sampen, Kenneth Tse, Christian Wirth, and the Zzyzx Saxophone Quartet.

 

Currently in pursuit of his Doctorate of Music in Saxophone Performance at the Jacobs School of Music in Indiana University, Arthur also received his Master’s Degree and Performer Diploma in Saxophone Performance from the Jacobs School of Music under the guidance of Otis Murphy. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Saxophone Performance from the Eastman School of Music studying with Chien-Kwan Lin. As an avid educator, Arthur has taught at the IU Saxophone Academy at Indiana University from 2017-2020. Presently, he is teaching students across the world online from the United States, Asia, and Kenya, and serves as a Teaching Assistant of Otis Murphy.