Syau-Cheng Lai is a classically trained pianist and visual artist who resides in Ithaca. Born and raised in Taiwan, she received an M.S. degree in animal science and a Ph.D. in biopsychology from Cornell University. For her work in art and music, she has received fellowships and grants from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Constance Saltonstall Foundation, the Cornell Council for the Arts, and the Community Arts Partnership of Tompkins County. She is drawn to expansive projects, having performed J. S. Bach's Goldberg Variations, Robert Schumann's Fantasie in C major, Op. 17, Frederic Rzewski's The People United Will Never Be Defeated! , Olivier Messiaen's Vingt regards sur l'Enfant-Jesus and Morton Feldman's For Bunita Marcus, the latter integrated with Visualizing For Bunita Marcus, her site-specific installation of 30 yards of textured painting and drawing at Cornell's Olive Tjaden Gallery. She is currently preparing for an All Things Painterly Project, including Alexander Scriabin's White Mass and Black Mass Sonatas, Maurice Ravel's Gaspard de la nuit, Miroirs, Jeux d'eau, Claude Debussy's Estampes and Images, and Federico Mompou's Musica Callada. She also collaborates with instrumentalists, choreographers and film artists on improvisation projects. She is a staff musician for the dance program at Department of Performing and Media Arts at Cornell University.