Dr. Tina Chong
Assistant Professor, Piano
SDSU
Bio
Hailed as “… a deity of elegance” by the New Brunswick Beacon, Dr. Tina Chong is an international award-winning pianist and sought-after teaching artist in North America. A native of Banff, Canada, Tina has been described as, “…mature and yet fresh, imbued with tradition and yet inhabited by individuality, the marks of an artist” (The Herald Times).
As a soloist, Tina has appeared with orchestras throughout the world including the Calgary Philharmonic, the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra, and the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra. Tina’s recital career has brought her to such venues as the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, the National Arts Centre and Rideau Hall in Ottawa, Sala Chopin in Mexico City, and the Sheldon Center in St. Louis. She has also been featured in La Jolla Music Society’s Summerfest, the Portland International Summer Festival, Lachine Festival, the WFMT Series of Chicago, and several programs aired by the Canadian Broadcasting Company. Under the management of Jeunesses Musicales of Canada, Tina has gone on several extensive concert tours throughout Canada.
An artist of great versatility, Tina performs in a wide range of genres such as classical, jazz, pop, Broadway, and film music in orchestra and chamber ensembles, as well as dance collaborations. Her prowess on piano, harpsichord, fortepiano, celesta, synthesizer, and harmonium have led to projects with artists such as Rachel Barton Pine, Inon Barnaton, Anthony McGill, Stefan Jackiw, and Tyler Duncan. Tina has also played regularly with the San Diego Symphony since 2017. This breadth of creative activity continues to inspire Tina’s engagement and cross-pollination with a wide community of musicians and audiences.
Tina earned her Doctor of Music degree at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music with a major in piano performance and minors in music education and historical performance practice. Her mentors were Arnaldo Cohen, Peter Miksza, and Elisabeth Wright. Tina is also a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music where she studied with Angela Cheng. She has worked closely with artist-teachers Robert McDonald, Jerome Lowenthal, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Julian Martin, Arie Vardi, and Menahem Pressler at numerous international summer festivals.
Tina currently serves as Assistant Professor of Piano at San Diego State University. She is a passionate advocate of alternatively-sized keyboards and is responsible for the acquisition of two reduced-sized piano keyboards at SDSU, the first of its kind in a university on the west coast.
Tina has been a prizewinner in a number of major international competitions, including the Montreal International Musical Competition and the Jacques Klein Piano Competition in Brazil. She captured first prize in the CMC International Stepping Stone Competition, the Aspen Music Festival concerto competition, Indiana University Piano Concerto Competition, and the Seneca Chamber Orchestra Competition. She is a recipient of the Indiana University Chancellor’s Fellowship for scholastic achievement and several grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and Alberta Foundation for the Arts.
Away from the keyboard, you can find Tina hiking in the mountains with her family or baking healthy treats.
Education
- B.M. Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Oberlin, OH
- M.M., D.M.A. - Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN