Dr Christina Tan earned a Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance and a cognate in Music Theory from the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), where she also completed her Bachelor’s and Master of Music degrees. Dr Tan also holds the Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music, London; and the Fellowship of the Trinity College, London. Her principal teachers in America include James Tocco, Eugene and Elizabeth Pridonoff, Frank Weinstock, and Béla Siki.
Dr Tan made her national debut on television at the age of five. Her teachers in Singapore have included her mother, Susie Tan, Alwyn Lee, and the late Sir Victor Doggett, under whose tutelage she acquired the LRSM and FTCL diplomas. Concert pianist Béla Siki heard her perform and invited her to study at CCM where she received all her music degrees while on various scholarships and teaching assistantships with CCM. She won first prize at several piano and composition competitions in the United States and abroad, including the 1986 Diners Club Pianist of the Year Award.
In addition to appearances with orchestras in Singapore and the United States, Dr Tan has performed numerous solo and chamber recitals. She adjudicates and frequently gives master classes & workshops. She has been a guest artist with the Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra, Warren Chamber Orchestra, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. She had taught at Carnegie Mellon and Duquesne Universities in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She has also been a member of the music faculty at Ohio's College Conservatory of Music, University of Akron, Hiram College; Kentucky's Transylvania University, Asbury College and Northern Kentucky University and South Carolina's Winthrop University. She has also served as Music Director/Organist at several churches, most recently, the Holy Communion Lutheran Church in Dallas, North Carolina.