Thursday, June 12th

Prize winner in the 2023 Prix Ravel, Hong Kong-born Canadian pianist Dane Ko is active as recitalist, chamber musician and educator on international stages. In the 2024-25 season, Dane will tour in recital to Montreal, Toronto, Hong Kong, and Macau, where he will also give masterclasses and workshops at The University of Hong Kong, University of Macau, and the University of Toronto.

Dane's performance accolades include prizes at Prix Ravel, The Shean Piano Competition, The Glenn Gould School Chamber Music Competition, and the Canadian Music Competition "Stepping Stone". As soloist, Dane has performed in such venues as the Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall, Koerner Hall of The Royal Conservatory in Toronto, and Le Château de Fontainebleau in France. Dane frequently appears in important festivals which in recent years included Mozarteum (Austria), Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival (United States), Domaine Forget (Quebec), and Fontainebleau (France). A radio veteran, Dane has given interviews and performances on Florida's Classical WSMR, Hong Kong's RTHK Radio 4, and CBC Radio One.

In addition to his performance activities, Dane is a passionate educator and an awardwinning research scholar. Dane serves as an instructor at McGill University Schulich School of Music, maintains a robust private studio, and is in demand as a masterclass clinician. A tribute to his late teacher, Marietta Orlov, Dane's ongoing doctoral project on the Romanian piano school centering on Professor Orlov's pedagogical legacy won the 2024 Canada Graduate Scholarship – Doctoral Award by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). In May 2024, Dane served on the inaugural Junior Jury of the Montreal International Piano Competition (CMIM).

Dane is indebted to his primary teachers: Marietta Orlov, Anna Fomina, Lydia Wong and Ilya Poletaev. Dane has also had the privilege to train with preeminent artistic personalities across Europe, Asia and North America in a variety of settings, including Robert Levin, Klaus Hellwig, Jan Jiracek von Arnim, Ronan O'Hora, Benedetto Lupo, Eric Le Sage, John Perry, Jeremy Denk and others. His formal studies at the University of Toronto and The Glenn Gould School of The Royal Conservatory culminated in a Bachelor of Music in piano performance, an Advanced Certificate in Performance, a Master of Music in Piano Pedagogy and an Artist Diploma supported by full scholarships.

Dane also holds the ARCT diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music conferred with the National Gold Medal. Currently based in Montreal, Dane is a doctoral candidate at McGill University Schulich School of Music where he also serves as instructor of piano.