Tian Tang

An active concert pianist, Tian Tang projects a musical vision that is personal and authentic. Her playing is praised for “thoughtful intimacy, myriad colors, and dazzling virtuosity”. She endeavors to craft immersive listening experiences, and her diverse interests in the arts and literature are integrated with her musical presentations. Tian’s Musical Voyages represents one of her current ventures—a multi-media concert series that brings together music, painting, poetry, storytelling, and visual media. Her imaginative concert programs, such as “Meandering in Nature”, “Love Song by Candlelight”, “Songs from Foreign Lands”, “From the Classical Era to Impressionism”, have captivated audiences’ applauses with a curated journey of sound and story. Alongside her multi-media concert series, she also curates ARIARTS Salon Series: Conversations of Music and Beyond—an interdisciplinary gathering inspired by the spirit of artistic exchange, where artists, creators and thinkers come together in conversation and collaboration.

Tang is a Doctor of Musical Arts candidate in Piano Performance and Pedagogy at Northwestern University Bienen School of Music, where she also serves as an instructor. Her teaching includes full-quarter academic courses such as Music and Film and Art Music Appreciation, as well as non-major piano lessons, and piano studio class. She has studied with a full scholarship, under the guidance of James Giles, Jose Ramon Mendez, and Marcia Bosits. She received her Master of Music degree from Northwestern as the department’s sole Program Honors recipient of her year. She earned her Bachelor of Music at San Francisco Conservatory of Music, studying with Yoshikazu Nagai, and participating in outreach through Conservatory in the Schools. She is a Luminarts Fellow, and was an artist-in-residence at Ragdale. 

As a dedicated teacher, Tang infuses her teaching with innovative methods and unwavering passion. She is the founder of Interactive Piano Workshop, an ongoing pedagogical project that reimagines the learning space as collaborative, improvisatory, and responsive. Through repertoire-exploration sessions, masterclasses, and ensemble collaborations, the initiative fosters critical listening and active participation, empowering students as co-creators in their learning process. She is a member of the Music Teachers National Association (USA), and also an Honorary Member of Taizhou Musicians Association (China)—a recognition honored for her outstanding contributions to the musical community and her extensive, voluntary efforts through cultural outreach. 

Tang is a prize winner of numerous competitions. In recent years, she has won 2022 Weatherford International Piano Competition, 2020 Paderewski International Piano Competition, 2019 Memphis International Piano Competition, 2018 Luminarts Classical Music Fellowship Competition, 2018 Thaviu-Isaac Piano Performance Competition, 2017 Northwestern University Concerto & Aria Competition, among others. She is a semifinalist of 2020 Piano Cleveland Virtu(al)oso Global Piano Competition. For both of her musical and academic achievements, Tang received Gold Award from Shanghai TangJunyuan Educational Foundation. She has appeared in public performances in Evanston, Chicago, San Francisco, Long Island, the Hamptons in New York, Florida, Maiori and Naples in Italy, Gijon in Spain, Tbilisi in Georgia, Shanghai, Ningbo, Hangzhou, Xi’an, Lishui in China, among others. She is a regular guest at Taizhou Music Radio. A certified Mental Health First Aider and a passionate advocate for community engagement, she has long been devoted to bringing music into underserved communities through volunteer teaching and performing.

Beyond her musical pursuits, Tang lives a vibrant life enriched by writing, painting, photography, boutique discovery, and a deep love for zooming out in nature. She’s an avid hikier, skier, sailor, and museum-goer. Her current writing project, A Cliffside Tree upon the Sea, is a growing collection of poetry and prose reflecting on sound, time, and memory.