Biographical Info

Alton Chung Ming Chan, a Grammy Award nominee, was born in Hong Kong and received much of his higher musical training in the United States where he earned his bachelor’s degree from Texas Lutheran University. Later, he earned his master’s degree in piano performance under Joseph Banowetz and a Ph.D. in music education, both from the University of North Texas.
In 1983, Chan made his orchestral debut in Beijing over Chinese National Television and Radio with the People’s Republic of China’s Central Opera Orchestra. Since then, he has appeared as soloist and recitalist in concert halls in Asia, Russia, Europe and North America. He is also a Mason and Hamlin Artist.
A much in demand scholar and expert on American piano pedagogy, Chan has appeared as a guest lecturer and performer at the Sichuan Conservatory of Music in Chengdu, Xinghai Conservatory of Music in Guangzhou, Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, and Shenyang Conservatory of Music, Lang Lang Music World, Hong Kong Baptist University, The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Nanyang Academy of Arts, and at numerous piano music teacher associations, festivals and conferences in the United States and Europe.
In 2002, he was invited to be the featured speaker for the annual conference of the Czech Republic’s Chapter of the European Piano Teachers Association. In addition to premiering the piano transcription of the Adagio of Mahler’s Tenth Symphony by the Scottish composer Ronald Stevenson at Mahler’s birthplace in Jihlava, he also performed and lectured in various cities in the Czech Republic and Portugal during the summer of 2002.
Chan’s music reviews, articles, and research on piano pedagogy have been published in numerous American, United Kingdom, Canadian and Hong Kong educational journals and newspapers. His recent publications for Warner Brothers Publications include a three-volume set of four-hand piano music with accompanying tutorial compact discs by Leopold Godowsky entitled Miniatures, and two volumes of Chinese piano music by the Chinese-Canadian composer An-lun Huang. Recently, he directed and produced a 2-DVD set on piano pedaling as lectured and demonstrated by Joseph Banowetz, published by the Shanghai Education Publishing House. In addition, the complete collection of Reinhold Glieré’s solo piano music will be published by Cambria Music in the near future.
As a recording artist, Chan has made commercial compact discs for Marco Polo, Naxos Records, and Warner Brothers. In the 50th Grammy Awards Ceremony, his and Joseph Banowetz’s four-hand piano recording of Balakirev’s 30 Songs of the Russian People was nominated for the Best Chamber Music Award. He recently has recorded the complete piano solo works of the Russian composer Reinhold Gliere, and the first compact disc of this series was released in the summer of 2018 by Cambria Music. A recording of Carl Czerny’s Piano Concerto In C Major, Op.153 for four-hands and other piano pieces for six-hands will also be released in 2019.
Currently, Chan serves as the Director of Music Learning Unlimited, a private community music school in the Dallas Metroplex. He is also the Artistic Director of the Dallas Chinese Children’s Choir, and has served three years as the Musical Director for the Dallas Asian American Youth Orchestra.