Anli Lin Tong

Praised by critics for her “pointed grace” (Los Angeles Times), “exquisite pianism” (Chinese American News), and “energy and elation” (Daily Telegraph), pianist Anli Lin Tong has performed in Europe, Asia and the United States as a concerto soloist and chamber musician in prestigious venues such as the Avery Fisher Hall (now the Geffen Hall) in New York’s Lincoln Center, the Getty Center in Los Angeles, Taipei Symphony Hall in Taiwan, and the Bordeaux Opera House, France. As a soloist, she has performed with the Taiwan Symphony in the Taiwan National Arts Festival, the Chinese Fine Arts Orchestra, the Bratislavia Chamber Orchestra, the Livic Chamber Orchestra, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, the Burbank Philharmonic and the Beach Cities Symphony Orchestra, among others in concertos ranging from Mozart, Chopin to Gershwin and Bartók. Her performance of the award-winning “Concertino for Piano and String Orchestra” by KUO Chi-Yuan was praised as the “best rendition of this work” in Taiwan Symphony Review. As a chamber musician, Anli Lin Tong has performed with musicians of the highest caliber, including members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and as the pianist of the Orphea Piano Trio.

Born in Taiwan, Anli Lin Tong began piano lessons at age five and won her first competition at age 9, winning First Prize on a nationally televised competition in Taiwan. An invitation to study with the legendary Polish pianist and pedagogue Mieczyslaw Munz (the sole teacher of pianist Emanuel Ax) led to her leaving Taiwan under the auspices of Taiwan’s Ministry of Education to study as the youngest student in Mr. Munz’s class at the Juilliard School in New York where she later receiving B.M., and M.M. in Piano under Martin Canin.

In 2000 Anli Lin Tong was awarded a full scholarship to study under the late Vitaly Margulis at UCLA but her DMA course was interrupted by a catastrophic medical condition. After a near miraculous recovery and having raised her two young children to adulthood, Anli Lin Tong returned to UCLA and advanced to candidacy in Fall 2018. Her final DMA recital explored a possible link between Béla Bartók’s Piano Concerto No. 3 and Chopin’s Sonata No. 2, two works that are the focus of her doctoral dissertation. In 2017, Anli Lin Tong was a featured guest artist at the Music Teachers Association of California State Convention and presented a lecture “Rendezvous with Bartók”. She is the published author of two articles, both in The California Music Teacher, the official journal of Music Teachers Association of California: “Historical Recordings – Lessons from Pianists of the Golden Age” and “In Search of Mieczyslaw Munz” - the latter currently featured as part of a tribute display for Munz at the Curtis Institute of Music. Anli Lin Tong is an “ACME” (“Artists, Composers, Musicians, Educators”) Honoree by Mu Phi Epsilon International Professional Music Fraternity and was awarded “ Outstanding Woman in Music” by the Chinese Women’s Association of the South Bay.

Anli Lin Tong has distinguished herself as a teacher of prize-winning students who have received top prizes in prestigious competitions at the state and national levels in solo and chamber music competitions, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic Kaper Award, the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition, and the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Competition. Her students in Chamber Music were awarded First Prize at the MTNA National Chamber Music Competition in 2015. Her private students have been accepted to all the top music schools in the country, including Juilliard. In the 2019-2020 season, highlights of Anli Lin Tong’s engagements will include a solo recital and master class at the Interlochen Center for the Arts, a Guest Artist appearance at the 2020 MTAC State Convention and a planned solo recital and lecture at the Bartók Cabin in Lake Saranac, NY, where Bartók composed his final works, including the Concerto No. 3.