Ms. McDonald enjoys a very active performing career regionally and nationally as a recital partner with many distinguished artists including the Takacs Quartet. She received her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in Piano Performance from the University of Minnesota where she was a student of Lydia Artymiw . McDonald received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of California - Santa Barbara. She received a fellowship to study at the prestigious Tanglewood Music Center in the summer of 2003 .