Born in Taichung, Taiwan in 1980, composer Sarana Tzu-Ling Chou began her musical training on piano at the early age of four. Ms. Chou was the youngest ever winner of the Taiwan National Composition Competition in 1989, and received the first prize again the following year. In Taiwan, she had studied composition with Gordon Shi-Wen Chin since 1995. As winner of the 1997 Taiwan National Gifted Students Competition, Ms. Chou was invited to Kaohsiung Normal University as a guest composer. In 1999, Ms. Chou was awarded the second prize at the 18th IAWM (International Alliance For Women in Music) Composition Contest "Search For New Music." Ms. Chou's compositions include a violin concerto, a flute concerto with string orchestra, as well as a number of chamber works and piano solo pieces. In 1997, she presented some of her chamber music works at a composition concert at Taichung City Concert Hall. At Tunghi University in 1998, Ms. Chou held a piano recital whose program included one of her own piano suites. Most recently, her works were premiered at Paul Recital Hall in New York City. This year Ms. Chou's music activities included a commission from Taiwan Heritage Festival (directed by Cho-Liang Lin) in San Diego the end of May. Ms. Chou has recently completed a Sonata for viola and piano which will have its world premier performance in Taiwan during the middle of June. Ms. Chou is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree at The Juilliard School, where she studies with Samuel Adler. She is the recipient of Richard Rodgers Scholarship, Gretchaninoff Memorial Prize, and Albert Szirmai Scholarship.