Spencer Cha is a pianist, composer, and arranger from Los Altos, CA. He is currently pursuing a B.S. in Bioengineering with minors in Music and Biology and an M.S. in Biomedical Data Science at Stanford University (B.S., M.S. ’26), and he currently studies piano with Dr. Elizabeth Schumann and formerly worked with Dr. Frederick Weldy and Jon Nakamatsu, as well as studying composition with Giancarlo Aquilanti and John Syzygy. A two-time YoungArts winner in classical music, Spencer has won prizes in multiple national and international competitions, including third prize in the San Jose International Piano Competition and first place in the Music Teachers National Association Composition Competition.
As a pianist, Spencer had his solo debut with the Palo Alto Philharmonic in 2019 and performed with the Golden State Youth Orchestra, the Harker School Orchestra, and the Peninsula Symphony in 2022. As a winner of the 2024 Stanford Concerto competition, he performed Rachmaninoff’s 3rd Piano Concerto with the Stanford Symphony Orchestra in November 2024. Spencer is also an avid chamber musician, and throughout his time at Stanford he has performed in duos, trios, and quartets along the West Coast. He has enjoyed playing in a piano trio with violinist Audrey Kim and Stanford faculty cellist Christopher Costanza for the past four years, performing at Stanford Medicine’s “Frontiers in Medicine 2024.”
Spencer’s compositions have been premiered by ensembles across the country, and he was inducted into both the Music Teachers Association of California Young Artists Guild and Young Composers Guild in 2021. At Stanford, he has written a variety of works for solo, chamber, and large ensembles, serving as composer in residence of Ensemble OH? in Winter 2025 when he premiered “For Others” for nine musicians and audience. Spencer has arranged many popular songs for classical ensembles: songs from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and La La Land for piano trio (2024), a “Media Suite” for violin and piano (2025), and Kapustin’s Variations, Op. 41, for Ensemble OH?.
As a part of the Stanford Medical Humanities and Arts program, he and Audrey Kim launched Stanford Shelter Music in 2023, which over the last few years has brought more than thirty interactive classical music concerts at interim housing shelters in the San Francisco Bay Area. Featuring professional artists such as James Ehnes, the Sphinx Virtuosi, and the Viano, Dior, and Poiesis quartets, Stanford Shelter Music has partnered with LifeMoves and HomeFirst to connect professional and student musicians and build community at interim housing sites. In addition to his classical pursuits, Spencer performs funk and rock keyboard with many student bands on campus. He also enjoys trail running, hiking, skiing, and adventures of all kinds.