Biographical Info

Joseph Tong has established a reputation as one of the most versatile and imaginative pianists of his generation. Much in demand as a soloist, duo pianist and chamber musician, Joseph made his Wigmore Hall debut as winner of the Maisie Lewis Young Artists Award and now gives regular recitals throughout the UK and abroad. He is one of the senior piano tutors at Wells Cathedral School in Somerset.

Joseph Tong studied first with Hilary Coates at Wells and then with Christopher Elton at the Royal Academy of Music, after reading music at Christ’s College, Cambridge. His recent Sibelius recording project has seen two CDs released on the Quartz label to widespread critical acclaim, including excellent reviews in the Sunday Times, International Piano and Fanfare Magazine (USA).
Joseph has given concert tours in Finland, including recitals at Sibelius’s home Ainola on the composer’s original Steinway, the Sibelius Museum in Turku, Helsinki Music Centre, Hämeenlinna Town Hall and at the 2019 Korpo Sibelius Festival.

Following an all-Schumann recital at the Sendesaal in Bremen in 2018, Joseph recorded a Schumann album at the same venue which was released on the Quartz label last year. This latest disc was Instrumental Choice in BBC Music Magazine last autumn, with a double five-star review and highly recommended in the Sunday Times. Joseph Tong has broadcast for BBC Radio 3, appearing on In Tune ahead of his St John’s Smith Square recital in 2015 as well as giving live broadcasts with his duo partner Waka Hasegawa for Radio 3 and WFMT Radio Chicago.

Other recent highlights have included recitals in Germany and Spain as well as at St David’s Hall, Cardiff, St George’s Bristol, Fairfield Halls Croydon, and the Jacqueline du Pré Hall in Oxford.

Joseph has always had a keen interest in performing new music and premiered new works by Cydonie Banting and Gareth Moorcraft at the 2018 Presteigne Festival. With his duo partner Waka Hasegawa, Joseph has commissioned new works for piano duet and two pianos from leading composers including David Matthews, Daniel Kidane, Dai Fujikura, Nicola LeFanu, Edwin Roxburgh and the late John McCabe, which have received their first performances at the Cheltenham Music Festival and venues including Wigmore Hall and the Purcell Room in London.

Joseph also performs regularly with his brother Daniel, who is also a pianist, including recitals at the Barber Institute in Birmingham, Stravinsky’s ‘Rite of Spring’ Centenary Celebrations in Oxford, the Wye Valley Chamber Music Festival and in collaboration with the musicologist Richard Wigmore

presenting concerts and study group sessions in Winchester, Chichester and Oxford.

Joseph Tong was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM) in 2008 and is an adjudicator for the British and International Federation of Festivals. Future projects include a Sibelius recording with violinist Fenella Humphreys later this year for the Resonus Classics label, recitals in Finland, Germany and the UK in 2021 and a new commission for solo piano from David Matthews.