Tong-Bai Deng, 16, is an 11th-grade student at Hinsdale Central High School. He has studied piano under Ms. Ludmilla Derka and Dr. Sung Hoon Mo, and currently studies with pianists Dr. Winston Choi and Dr. Svetlana Smolina. Since Autumn of 2023, Tong-Bai has been a student at New Music School and has taken additional studies with pianists Sean Bennett and Jeff Panko.
Tong-Bai has been recognized in many competitions, and has won awards such as 1st Exceptional Performers in the 2024 Charleston Winter Music Competition, Gold Medal in the Professional Young Group at the 11th GOCAA Competition, Professional Young Artist II 1st Prize in the 2024 CIMC Competition, and Gold Medal in the Professional Young Group at the 12th Qingdao International Mendelssohn Piano Competition, held in China. Recently, he also earned 1st place in the 56th Annual Stanger Competition and 1st Alternate in the Crain-Maling CSO Young Artist Competition.
Beyond competitions, Tong-Bai has also participated in numerous summer camps such as the Chicago International Music Competition and Festival and successfully held solo recitals in August of 2023 and April of 2025.
You can find Tong-Bai’s 2021 International Piano Competition performance here.
You can find Tong-Bai’s 2024 Winter Music Competition piano performance here.
You can find Tong-Bai’s 20th Century Music Competition 2024 piano performance here.
Watch Tong-Bai Deng perform Gargoyles, Op. 29, Movement 4 by Lowell Liebermann on the piano for the 2025 Summer Music Competition as part of the Charleston International Music Competition.
Watch Tong-Bai Deng perform Sonetto del Petrarca 104 by Franz Liszt on the piano for the 19th Century Music Competition 2025 as part of the Charleston International Music Competition.
Watch Tong-Bai Deng perform Eight Memories in Watercolor by Tan Dun on the piano for the 2025 World Music Competition as part of the Charleston International Music Competition.