Biography

Pipe and Key is an organ-piano duo from Houston, TX formed by pianist Yvonne Chen and organist Yuri McCoy. While doctoral students at Rice University, they started collaborating in their untraditional arrangement in 2015 and are using their talents and passions to achieve 3 goals:

1. Bring symphonic works usually only heard in concert halls to neighborhood community spaces

2. Give new life to under-represented works in the classical repertoire, and

3. Showcase the unique sonic and virtuosic abilities on these two distinctive keyboard instruments.

With McCoy’s expertise in adapting the symphonic sound for pipe organ, and Chen’s versatility as a dynamic piano soloist and sensitive chamber music collaborator, Pipe and Key has brought piano concertos by Mozart and Lutoslawski, as well as Ravel’s iconic Rhapsodie espagnole and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, to over 5 different neighborhoods in Houston and beyond. They have been featured at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival (Charleston, SC), National City Christian Church’s Music at Midday series (Washington, DC), St. Paul's Chamber Music Society Lenten Recital Series (Houston, TX), and Houston Christian University’s Belin Chapel Recital Series (Houston, TX).

For their 2025-2026 10th anniversary season, Pipe and Key is excited to embark on their first commissioning project and unveil a new recital program featuring the seminal Concerto originally for organ and piano by Flor Peeters.