Christina ChengLian Tan

"Tan always seemed to be gauging her performance to suit the needs of the moment, and such intelligent playing is as welcome as it is rare"— Lexington Herald-Leader.

Having played with orchestras on both sides of the Pacific, concert pianist Béla Siki invited her to study at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She earned a Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance, Theory cognate while on various scholarship awards, theory, and piano teaching assistantships. Her Piano mentors include James Tocco, Eugene & Elizabeth Pridonoff, Frank Weinstock, and Béla Siki; harpsichord and organ studies with Eiji Hashimoto and David Mulbury.
  
She clinched the top prize and awards at several local and international piano and composition competitions, including the Diners Club Pianist of the Year Award in Asia.  In 2019, she won the Artist Division of the international competition'Immortal and Living Composers'. She also received the Composer Prize at the BMTG Intercontinental Piano Competition. A Carnegie Hall debut in November resulted. Composer Byron Adams wrote, "Thank you, with all my heart, for your consummate artistry and true insight into my Illuminations."
  
As a composer, The Singapore Straits Times describes her music, “Spirited piano piece a winner...21st-century music does not need to be inaccessible to be taken seriously..." "Tan’s artistry shone through with utter clarity, humor, and beauty… There was much poignancy in the familiar preludes...sheer poetry reigned ...a captivating performance.”  February 2025 sees the premiere of her Youth Piano Concerto in Three Movements at Cincinnati Memorial Hall.
  
An insightful educator and adjudicator, she has served on the faculties of the University of Akron, Asbury, Transylvania, Northern Kentucky, Hiram College, Carnegie Mellon, Duquesne, and Winthrop. In 2010, an invitation to help set up the International Baccalaureate program in Music at her native Singapore brand-new flagship SOTA~ School of the Arts. In 2014, she also began teaching at LASALLE College of Arts’ School of Contemporary Music and NAFA–Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts' School of Music, now known as the University of the Arts, Singapore. Passionate about music-making and education, Christina served as Vice President of the Singapore Music Teachers’ Association. In 2016, she was awarded the Golden Key International Music Festival Certificate of Excellence in recognition of her outstanding commitment to music education and students represented in the International Composition Competition. 
  
A dedicated, passionate leader, able to cultivate a lifelong love of music; providing support, engaging instruction to students, and driving performance results and standards. Tan sees her role as a catalyst and mentor to facilitate, coordinate, impart knowledge, and perpetuate discernment, critical thinking, and self-reflection. "It is the supreme joy of awakening the wonder of creative expression, heightening aesthetic awareness, and growth in others that fuels her passion and calling."   
  

Doctor of Musical Arts: University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Cincinnati, OH, (Piano Performance, Music Theory cognate)

Master of Music: University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (Piano Performance )

Bachelor of Music cum Laude: (Piano Performance)