Tong Wang
pianist, etc.
“With a flair for blending classical technique with compelling narrative, Wang has developed a reputation for themes that surprise and intrigue. ”
Welcome
Thank you for joining my journey.
I am a Canadian pianist advocating for the power of art to connect us to ourselves, to each other, and to the world around us.
My projects explore the role of art in relation to identity, culture, and current social issues. I aim to continuously lead creative initiatives across areas of performance, research, education, and community engagement.
“Let it matter.
Listen generously. ”
Music
“She created a sound and a tone that is with me still ... With her performance she evoked feelings in me that were undiscovered. She played with ethereal grace, and shattering force. So much physical strength and introspective intellect. Astounding performance!”
“Wang is recognized for both technical skill and innovative programming. Her concerts reflect her belief that in opening to different experiences, we kindle respect, understanding and connection.”
About Me
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I believe in the power of listening. Of sincerity. Of connection. The power of sharing attention, feeling, and understanding. Art allows me to advocate for that power.
I’ve seen to the ability of art, artists, and arts initiatives to create jobs and save lives, to empower individuals or entire marginalized and underprivileged populations, to perform small to monumental miracles of communication. Art is a powerful voice that can engage in difficult conversations, controversial debates, and express important messages during periods of divide and hardship. It can reach across time, languages, borders, and cultures to connect people and kindle a shared understanding. As Bernstein said, “Art can affect people so that they are changed – enriched, ennobled, encouraged – then they act in a way that may affect the course of events by the way they vote, behave, and think."
Music can offer such simple yet profound gifts – a memory, a will, a feeling of peace or joy or passion or anguish, a moment of awe, curiosity, magic, of noticing, of understanding, of being understood, or just any feeling that allows us to be in touch with ourselves, with each other, and with the world around us. Those are the gifts I wish to share with as many individuals as I can reach. Sincere intentions and emotions will carry through. They will reach someone.
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(medium, 250 words)
Tong Wang is a Canadian pianist recognized for her innovative contributions to performance, research, and community engagement. Her work investigates the intersection of art with identity, culture, and contemporary issues. Tong’s performance highlights include collaborations with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Red Deer Symphony Orchestra, and artists across North America, Europe, and Asia. A versatile artist, she has spearheaded the creation of a new horror anime opera “Labyrinth of Tears” alongside research into the aesthetics of "cuteness" in music, supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the FRQSC, and the SSHRC doctoral grants. Tong’s recent projects have explored multiculturalism, diaspora identity, climate issues, and music therapy, including her solo tours “我们Us” in Lunenburg, Montreal, Basel, Verbier, “Music as a Connection Cure” in Alberta, and her tours with DoSi, “Homecoming”, “Wanting to Start Again”, and “Dark Tales” across Canada, US, and eastern Europe. In 2022, she co-founded the Windwood Music Festival in Airdrie, Alberta to bring diverse and accessible classical chamber music to rural communities. In the past seasons, she performed with Barbara Hannigan, Verona Quartet, Lyrica Baroque, Xenia Concerts, and toured her solo recital “Towards the Flame” with Debut Atlantic. In the upcoming season, Tong will be touring the solo recitals “Wild Skies” with Prairie Debut and perform at the Asia International Piano Academy & Festival in Korea. Tong is a graduate of the New England Conservatory and the Schulich School of Music. She continues to embark on solo and chamber tours across North America, Europe, and Asia, showcasing her dedication to fostering global connections through art.
(short, 100 words)
Tong Wang is a Canadian pianist leading projects that explore the role of art in relation to identity, culture, and current social-political issues. As a soloist and chamber musician, Tong has performed with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Red Deer Symphony Orchestra, and ensembles across North America, Europe, and Asia. Tong is a Co-Founder of the Windwood Music Festival in Airdrie, Alberta and a part of the violin-piano duo, DoSi. Tong continues to embark on solo and chamber tours across the US, Canada, and Europe, showcasing her dedication to fostering global connections through art.
(full, 1000 words) Updated March, 2026
Tong Wang is a Canadian artist engaging in a variety of projects across areas of performance, research, education, community engagement, interdisciplinary arts, cultural advocacy for marginalized groups, and reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples. She aims to realize the potential within our community when people from different backgrounds and worldviews come together to collaborate and build meaningful connections.
As a concert pianist, Wang has performed with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra (2010), the Red Deer Symphony Orchestra (2012, 2018, 2020), and artists/ensembles throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. Her awards including the International Chopin Golden Ring Competition (2010), Canadian Music Competition (2010), Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal of Performing Arts (2012), Winspear Foundation Scholarship (2012-2015), Alberta Foundation of the Arts Individual Musicianship Grant (2013-2016, 2025), New England Conservatory George Chadwick Medal (2016), Alberta Arts Graduate Scholarship (2018), Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Graduate Scholarship (2019), Canada Council for the Arts Grants (2021-2025), Sir James Lougheed Doctoral Award of Distinction (2022), La Napoule Art Foundation Canadian Artist Residency (2022), Fonds de Recherche du Québec Société et Culture Doctoral Grant (2021-2022), Alberta Ministry of Arts, Culture and Status of Women Grant (2024-2025), The Hnatyshyn Foundation Launch Grant (2025), and the Canada Doctoral Scholarship (2022-2025).
Wang have given recitals at venues such as Weill Hall in New York (2013), Jordan Hall and Symphony Hall in Boston (2012-2016), Salle Bourgie (2018), Bon Pasteur (2020), Pollack Hall and Redpath Hall (2017-2025) in Montreal, Orpheus Instituut in Gent, Belgium (2021), Taratata in Verbier, Switzerland (2022), Château de la Napoule, France (2022), Podium Vocale in Den Haag, Netherlands (2023), Southminister United Church in Ottawa (2023), Central European University in Budapest, Hungary (2023, 2024), Gheorghe Dima National Music Academy and Ethnographic Museum of Transylvania in Cluj-Napoca, Romania (2024), Meridian Hall in Toronto (2024), New Marigny Theatre in New Orleans (2024), Russian Cultural Center in Houston (2024), and The Chinese University of Hong Kong and Beijing Central Conservatory (2025).
Throughout her career, Wang has regularly presented community engagement concerts at schools, libraries, galleries, cafes, breweries, farms, senior homes, and hospitals. Since 2012, she has been involved with various social and entrepreneurial initiatives including the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Music for Food, New England Conservatory’s Community Partnerships and Performances Program, and In Concert for Cambodia. As a Lincoln Center Stage artist from 2016-2019, she performed educational chamber music concerts featuring a diverse range of genres onboard Holland America Line. In 2019, as a part of the leadership for the Montreal Musicians Collective, she supported the expansion of a year-round concert series to promote works by queer, underrepresented, and marginalized composers.
In 2016 and 2017, as Executive Director of the artist collective, “Zenkora Studios”, she led artists across the US and Canada to produce multimedia orchestra concerts that illustrate the stories of an original fantasy universe. The concert in Calgary, “Zenkora: The Seven Eras” brought together collaborations with the Rocky Mountain Symphony Orchestra, Alberta Ballet, University of Calgary School of Drama, and international composers, soloists, and visual artists. Our stage-play explored LGBTQ themes, and our new orchestral commission featured traditional African instruments along with Beijing opera.
Throughout her career, Wang have actively explored the role of the arts in relation to identity, culture, and current social-political issues. During the Covid-19 pandemic, she presented a violin-piano concert, “Song of Praise” that spoke up against anti-Asian racism and explored the complex identities of Chinese Canadian immigrant musicians. Wang also toured a solo recital celebrating heritages and stories from across China, India, Turkey, Ukraine, and Africa, “我们Us” in Lunenburg, Montreal, Basel, and presented the interactive concerts “We’re Not Really Strangers” and “My Neighbours Totoro and Claude!” at the Verbier Festival. Other festival engagements include the Siena Music Festival, Rome Music Festival, Mendelssohn Academy, Holland Music Sessions, Brevard Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Orford Musique, and PianoFest in the Hamptons.
Also in 2021, as a cohort of the Global Leaders Program, Wang’s capstone team designed the project “Music Therapist Next” and partnered with Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA to identify qualified recent graduates for placement at health organizations. Within the first 6 months, their project created 3 permanent full-time positions for music therapists at local hospitals.
Wang’s doctoral research on “cuteness” as an aesthetic in animation, kawaii metal, lo-fi, and classical music won grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, Fonds de Recherche du Québec, and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. This research-performance project has commissioned new solo piano works as well as a new horror anime opera, “Labyrinth of Tears”, which has been partially produced by Allegra Chamber Ensemble in Vancouver.
In 2022, Wang co-founded the Windwood Music Festival in Airdrie, Alberta to engage with rural communities through classical chamber music. The chamber music series presents adaptive, inclusive, and accessible music events that engage local audiences by listening to their needs, stories, and perspectives. Windwood have also partnered with Xenia Concerts and Airdrie Abilities Center to curate programs especially designed for neurodivergent and autistic populations.
Along the same vision, Wang’s violin-piano duo, DoSi (previously Duo Perdendosi), has presented a variety of projects that explore cultural and social-political subjects. In 2023, their tour was centred on the issues of ‘home’ for diaspora Asian-American populations. In 2024, they were funded by the Canada Council to tour in eastern Europe a program that showcases the work of contemporary Canadian-Chinese and Sri Lankan composers. In 2024, DoSi collaborated with Barbara Hannigan and the Verona Quartet in Lunenburg, Lyrica Baroque in Louisiana, TO Live, One Health Partners Therapy Dogs, Alzheimer Society of Toronto, and performed two inclusive intergenerational concerts at the Meridian Arts Center.
In 2025, Wang performed a cello-piano tour featuring Canadian Chinese composer Alice Ho’s “Four Impressions of China” in Hong Kong and Beijing. Tong recently toured her solo recital “Towards the Flame” with Debut Atlantic in February 2026. In the upcoming season, Tong will be touring the solo recitals “Wild Skies” with Prairie Debut, “Music as a Connection Cure” in partnership with Alberta Health Services (a project funded by the Hnatyshyn Foundation, Alberta Foundation for the Arts, and Calgary Arts Development). She will perform as a faculty and jury member at the Asia International Piano Academy & Festival in Korea in July 2026.
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2026 | Canadian Music Center – Micro Grant
2025 | The Hnatyshyn Foundation - Gerda Hnatyshyn Launch Grant
2025 | Calgary Arts Development – Individual Project Grant
2025 | Alberta Foundation for the Arts – Individual Project Grant
2025 | Canada Council for the Arts “Concept to Realization” Grant
2025 | Canada Council for the Arts “Arts Abroad – Travel” Grant
2025 | Grand Junction Symphony Orchestra Young Artist Competition – Finalist
2024 | Alberta Ministry of Arts, Culture and Status of Women – Project Grant
2023 | Canada Council for the Arts “Arts Abroad – Touring” Grant
2022 – 2025 | Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Doctoral Scholarship
2021 – 2025 | Fonds de Recherche du Québec - Société et Culture Doctoral Grant
2022 | La Napoule Art Foundation Canadian Artist Residency
2022 | Canada Council for the Arts “Concept to Realization” Grant
2022 | Sir James Lougheed Doctoral Award of Distinction
2021 | Canada Council for the Arts “Research to Creation” Grant
2020 | Nordic Strings Academy International Music Competition “China Concert Tours” Winner
2019 – 2023 | Schulich School of Music Graduate Excellence Fellowship
2019 | Post Graduate Students’ Society Residency Award
2019 | Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Graduate Scholarship
2018 | Alberta Arts Graduate Scholarship
2018 | Mildred Largie Award and Graduate Excellence Fellowship
2017 | McGill Chamber Music Competition Winner
2016 | New England Conservatory George Chadwick Medal
2016 | New England Conservatory Entrepreneurial Musicianship Grant
2013 – 2016 | Alberta Foundation of the Arts Individual Musicianship Grant
2012 – 2015 | Winspear Foundation Scholarship
2011 – 2015 | Ranald and Vera Shean Memorial Scholarship
2014 | National Mondavi Young Artists Competition Finalist
2013 | Susan L. Tajra Music Scholarship
2013 | New England Conservatory Beneficent Society Scholarship
2013 | American Protégé International Concerto Competition First Prize Winner
2012 | Queen’s Golden Jubilee Scholarship for Performing Arts
2012 | Brevard Music Center Zimmerli Piano Competition Second Prize Winner
2011 | Northern Alberta Concerto Competition First Prize Winner
2011 | Alberta Music Festival Concerto Competition First Prize Winner
2011 | Vera Shean 100th Anniversary Scholarship
2010 | 6th International Chopin Golden Ring Competition Third Prize Winner
2010 | Canadian Music Competition Second Prize Winner
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Schulich School of Music, McGill University, Montreal, QC
2020 – 2025 | Doctor of Music in Performance
2019 – 2020 | Graduate Diploma in Performance
2017 – 2019 | Master of Music in Piano Performance
Global Leaders Program
2021 | Executive Graduate Certificate
New England Conservatory, Boston, MA
2012 – 2016 | Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance
“You breathed life into every corner … You brought colour, love and enrichment to Airdrie, and for that I am so thankful.”
News and Updates
Contact
tong.wang@live.ca
“To witness pianist Tong Wang in performance is to venture into a vivid soundscape intersecting eras, cultures, and moods. ”
“Towards the Flame” is a program that is incredibly personal. The emotions, stories, and gravitas of these pieces span a decade of ups and downs - from deep despair, grief, and pain to moments of tenderness, courage, warmth, and ultimately: if not tiny triumphs, then, a constantly renewing vulnerability, resilience, and hope. That’s what the flame is in this program. It’s the light within us when the darkness sets in.
However, this is not a concert that simply praises love and light. It also praises the dark. It witnesses pain and grief.
I like the cold. And I like the dark. Or rather, perhaps, I learn to need them. I need the void and emptiness and silence just as much as I need the heat and fire and luminous light. These places are profoundly necessary for us to turn inwards, to rest, to find solace and solidarity. Darkness is necessary for light. Silence is necessary for music.
During these dark, cold winter months - I hope to share the power of this music to simply emote us, to allow us to feel just what we feel, and to move through these emotions together. That’s the power of collective experience - to connect us to ourselves, to each other, and the world around us. To have our struggles feel heard, understood, and shared.
“Darkness isn't just absence but a vital space for healing, creativity, navigation, and finding inner strength, making light more profound when it appears.”