Margaret Leng Tan has established herself as a major force in the American avant-garde. Ms. Tan, whose work embraces theater, choreography, performance, has been called “the diva of avant-garde pianism” by The New Yorker. She is renowned as the pre-eminent interpreter of John Cage’s music and for her performances of American and Asian music that transcend the piano’s conventional boundaries.
Margaret Leng Tan has been called “the queen of the toy piano” by The New York Times. After discovering Cage’s Suite for Toy Piano, Ms. Tan became fascinated with the artistic potential of the toy piano and more recently, with other toy instruments as well. In her groundbreaking 1997 CD, The Art of the Toy Piano (Philips/Universal), she elevated a humble toy to the status of a real instrument. Critics acknowledge her as the world’s first toy piano virtuoso who has inspired composers to create a unique repertoire for a new instrument. Over the past decade, Ms. Tan’s diminutive music-theater of nostalgia and humor has delighted audiences at festivals around the world. Her latest toy album, SHE HERSELF ALONE: The Art of the Toy Piano 2, was recently released as a Mode Records CD and DVD (mode 221).
Evans Chan’s 2004 documentary, SORCERESS OF THE NEW PIANO: The Artistry of Margaret Leng Tan, was nominated for Best Music Documentary at The American Film Institute/Discovery Channel’s SilverDocs. Sorceress has been released as a Mode Records DVD together with Chan’s The Maverick Piano (mode 194).
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