Remarked in the Boston Globe for his “mesmerizing performance”, Canadian pianist Barry Tan is enjoying a career as an active soloist, collaborative artist, and educator in Los Angeles, California. Most recently, Barry was a prize winner at the Vancouver International Music Competition, winning the prize for the Best Overall Performance of a Canadian work. He has performed as a soloist with the University of Victoria Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Philharmonic Orchestra, the Harmonia Chamber Orchestra, the University of Southern California Symphony Orchestra, and the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra.

In addition to maintaining his private studio, Barry previously served as an Applied Faculty/Adjunct Professor of Music at California Baptist University, Collinsworth School of Music. His teaching load included applied private instruction, chamber ensemble, and recital coaching. Previously, Barry served as a studio teaching assistant to the piano faculty at the University of Southern California. His duties included lecturing group piano sequence classes to music and non-music majors and private instruction to piano majors from the undergraduate to doctorate levels. His pedagogy expertise has been presented at the Florida State Music Teachers Conference, the California Association of Professional Music Teachers, and the MTNA National Collegiate Conference. Barry will join the 2023 Montecito International Music Festival faculty, held in Thousand Oaks, California.

In demand as a collaborative pianist in recitals, concerts, and recordings, Barry’s collaborative work has led him to various performances and recordings with instrumentalists, choral groups, and singers throughout North America. Highlights include collaborating with members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, serving as competition pianist for the Primrose International Viola Competition in Los Angeles, the James Toland Vocal Competition in San Francisco, and on staff at the Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan, and the Sounding Point Academy at the Colburn School, where he currently serves as a staff pianist throughout the school year.

In recent seasons, highlights include solo and collaborative performances throughout Los Angeles, Vancouver (the Chan Center), Victoria, Vancouver Island, Montana, Michigan, San Francisco, and in Massachusetts at the Tanglewood Music Festival- where he was given the opportunity to work and study with world-renowned artists such as Emanuel Ax, Leonidas Kavakos, Kiril Gerstein, Andris Nelson, and Yo-Yo Ma. He has recorded on IPR Radio WIAA 98.7FM at Interlochen’s Studio A, had featured performances with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra on the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO Now) streaming, as well as his performances at the Primrose Viola Competition, through the Violin Channel.

As an active Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) Collegiate Chapter member, Barry served as President for two consecutive years at USC during his doctoral studies. He has also contributed to three volumes of e-journal articles, for the California Association of Professional Music Teachers (CAPMT). His latest peer-reviewed article “Sight Reading for the Contemporary Pianist” was published in October 2022. His students have been recipients of local scholarships, competition prizes, as well as summer music festival acceptances.

Previously Barry studied at McGill University, Schulich School of Music, under full scholarship, and at the University of Victoria, where he was awarded the President’s Scholarship, and graduated with distinction. He recently received his Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of Southern California, Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles, where he was awarded the Most Outstanding Graduate in the Keyboard Studies Department.

In his spare time, Barry enjoys exploring new neighborhoods in Los Angeles, film photography, watching A24 movies, and producing contemporary beats on Logic Pro X. His most recent entertainment industry credits include playing for a live audience of over 90,000 at Sofi Stadium for the WWE Wrestlemania 2023. This video performance has amassed over 1.5 million streams on Instagram. He has also been engaged with celebrity clientele for piano tutoring, and engagement on music video sets.

Please visit www.barrytanpiano.com for more information.