Biography

Passionate about teaching and performing, Jocelyn Lai is an experienced and versatile classical musician. As a concert pianist, she has performed at festivals and academies across Canada, the United States, and Spain, in prestigious venues such as the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie, Salle Bourgie in Montreal, Chan Center for the Performing Arts in Vancouver, and Paul Hall at the Juilliard School. Recent performance highlights include a solo concert tour in British Columbia (Kamloops, Cranbrook, Squamish), a featured faculty recital at Hunter College, and appearances at the 2019 Hilton Head and West Virginia University International Competitions.

With many years of competition experience, she has garnered distinctions on national and international stages, winning the 2016 CIM Concerto and the 2014 American Protégé International Competitions, and capturing second prize in the 2016 Shean National and 2012 Knigge National Competitions. Born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, she was a laureate at the Canadian Music Competition and National Class at the Performing Arts BC Provincial Festival (PABC). Fifteen years later in 2022, Jocelyn returned as a piano adjudicator for PABC and has since then been a sought after adjudicator for many festivals around the province.

Through her performances and research, Jocelyn aims to present Canadian classical piano music to wider audiences. Her doctoral dissertation, "Interpreting Jean Coulthard's Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (1963): A Pianist's Perspective," was presented at the University of Toronto Graduate Music Conference in 2022. She continues to perform solo programs featuring Canadian works interweaved with the European classics, making lesser-known works heard by wider audiences.

As an educator, Jocelyn lectured on topics in music theory while on the faculty of Hunter College (New York), guided children through private piano instruction at the Nord Anglia International School, and has years of experience teaching secondary piano in the college division at the Juilliard School. Furthermore, she has given presentations through education outreach programs in Vancouver, New York, Cleveland, and Hilton Head. Moving home from New York since the pandemic, she currently serves on the piano faculty at the Vancouver Academy of Music. 

Jocelyn is a grateful recipient of many prestigious Canadian grants from the BC Arts Council, Koerner Foundation, and Hnatyshyn Foundation, enabling her to pursue advanced music degrees. She holds a Bachelor of Music from the UBC School of Music, Master of Music from the Juilliard School, an Artist Diploma from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and Doctor of Musical Arts from the City University of New York Graduate Center. Her musical inspiration and guidance come from her teachers: Jane Coop, HaeSun Paik, and Julian Martin.