Meet Our 2026 Festival of the Arts Adjudicator
Han Ding
Han is a classical pianist and composer in Calgary. His work in music has included solo and chamber performance, as well as original instrumental compositions and incidental music. In his fifteenth year of teaching piano, Han’s students have enjoyed local and regional success. He is currently a piano instructor at Mount Royal University Conservatory, and has also worked as an accompanist and adjudicator.
As a pianist, Han’s repertoire includes such major works as Bach's Goldberg Variations, Beethoven’s Op. 53 and 57 Sonatas, Prokofiev's Piano Sonata No. 6, and Ligeti’s Musica Ricercata. His recent performances include two concerts with the Symphony of the Kootenays as a guest soloist playing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 1, and a concert with Timepoint Ensemble. His 2016 solo recital featured music from medieval to modern times.
Han participated in the national CMC Stepping Stone competition, the CMC Finals as both a pianist and a harpsichordist, and the RBC Concerto Competition with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. Han’s original works includes solo pieces and ensemble concert music.
For Canada's 150th, he was one of eight composers commissioned by ARMTA to write student pieces based on Canadian folk songs, with the works published by Palliser. His Adagio/Allegro/Piano/Bassoon was heard at the ARMTA Composer Showcase. His Ballad Concerto for Cello and Piano was most recently heard in Toronto. His piano works include Vignettes, Lullaby, and Piano Sonata, and his accordion etude Burst was played in a concert at the University of Calgary in 2010. Recently he worked with students at Dodge Film School of Chapman University, providing music for a short film.