Tin-Pui Tang's Principal Teachers

ENGLISH

Isaac Lau is a distinguished Hong Kong piano pedagogue who has shaped the early development of numerous talented pianists in the city. As Tin-Pui Tang's earliest principal teacher, Mr. Lau laid the technical and musical foundations that would carry Tang through the world's most competitive conservatoire auditions. His pedagogical lineage and deep understanding of classical piano tradition gave Tang the rigorous grounding essential for a professional career at the international level.

ENGLISH

Dr. Mary Mei Loc Wu is one of Hong Kong's most celebrated pianists and pedagogues. She graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in London and the Yehudi Menuhin School, before earning her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in the United States. She has been a faculty member at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts since 1992, and is also a faculty member at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Dr. Wu was named one of Hong Kong's Ten Outstanding Young Persons in 2003 and received the Hong Kong Arts Development Award for Best Artist (Music). She has been a jury president at the Spain International Piano Competition (2019, 2023) and has performed as a soloist with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta and at major international venues. Her teachers included Vlado Perlemuter (a pupil of Ravel) and Louis Kentner. Under Dr. Wu's guidance at HKAPA, Tin-Pui Tang graduated with Dean's List honours in 2018 under a full ABRSM scholarship — one of the most prestigious music scholarships in Hong Kong.

ENGLISH

Professor Rustem Hayroudinoff is a Russian concert pianist of Tatar origin, born in Kazan. He graduated from the Moscow Conservatory under the legendary Lev Naumov, and received his postgraduate diploma (DipRAM) at the Royal Academy of Music in London under Christopher Elton — becoming the first student from the Soviet Union to study at the Royal Academy. He is now a Professor of Piano at the RAM, where he has taught since 2005. His recordings for Chandos and Decca have received widespread critical acclaim: his Rachmaninoff Complete Preludes was selected by Classic FM Magazine as part of the "four essential Rachmaninoff discs" alongside recordings by Arthur Rubinstein and André Previn; his Complete Etudes-Tableaux was named BBC Music Magazine's Instrumental Choice of the Month. His performances have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and major classical stations worldwide. Under Prof. Hayroudinoff's tutelage at the Royal Academy of Music, Tin-Pui Tang graduated with Distinction in 2020 under a full scholarship from The Muriel, Lady Kadoorie Music Scholarship.

ENGLISH

Professor Arie Vardi is one of the most celebrated piano pedagogues of the 20th and 21st centuries. Born in 1937, he is a laureate of the Israel Prize (2017) — the country's highest civilian honour — awarded for his lifetime contribution to music education. His students have collectively won over 65 first prizes at major international piano competitions, including Yundi Li (International Chopin Competition 2000), Sa Chen (International Chopin Competition 2000), Beatrice Rana (Montreal International Musical Competition 2011), and many others. He served as a professor at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music at Tel Aviv University, where he mentored generations of pianists from around the world. Tin-Pui Tang studied under Prof. Vardi at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music, obtaining his Artist Diploma with full scholarship in 2022 — the culmination of his formal conservatoire training. He had also received guidance from Prof. Vardi at the Aspen Music Festival in 2019.