ABOUT MR. DONG
关于董老师
“He would guide you into discovering solutions on your own… That way of learning changes you. It teaches you how to think, not just how to play.” — Anne Liu
My goal has never been simply to teach students to play the piano well. I want them to learn how to think, listen, work with discipline, and find their own solutions rather than always waiting for someone to give them the answer. Some of my students have continued in music; others have gone on to medicine, science, technology, law, and many other fields. What matters most to me is that the discipline, confidence, curiosity, and imagination they developed through music stay with them long after our lessons end. Ultimately, I hope they learn not only how to become better musicians, but how to become independent, thoughtful people who continue to pursue excellence in whatever they choose to do.
Education & Training
Ethan Dong's musical education began in Beijing, where he studied piano with his mother, Professor Li Fei-Lan, and grew up in a musical family with his father, cellist Gangrui Dong. He attended the Elementary and Middle Schools of the Central Conservatory of Music, studied with Professor Ying Shizhen, and received guidance from several distinguished Chinese and international pedagogues. A turning point came when legendary conductor Dr. Herbert Zipper discovered him during a visit to China and helped bring him to the United States. Dong continued his education at Crossroads School in Santa Monica with Mary Ann Cummins, later earning a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from the New England Conservatory, where he studied with Russell Sherman, and a Master of Music in Piano Performance from the Yale University School of Music, where he studied with Claude Frank.
Artistic Work
Ethan Dong has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician in the United States and internationally. After winning First Prize in the Heida Hermanns International Piano Competition and the East-West International Piano Competition, he presented a solo recital at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. His performances have included appearances at Jordan Hall in Boston, Harvard University, Segerstrom Concert Hall, the Ford Amphitheater in Hollywood, and venues in China. He has performed as a soloist with orchestras including the Pacific Symphony and Beijing orchestras, and has collaborated with musicians from the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Los Angeles Philharmonic. His performances and interviews have also been featured on WQXR in New York, KUSC, China International Radio, CBS, and Los Angeles television.
Teaching & Mentorship
Ethan Dong began teaching while pursuing his graduate studies at the Yale School of Music, where he taught secondary piano to students at Yale College. After relocating to Orange County, California, he devoted an increasingly significant part of his career to teaching and mentoring young pianists. In 2004, he co-founded Opus119 School of Music in Irvine, where he has taught and developed young musicians for more than two decades. His teaching emphasizes musical understanding, imagination, technical freedom, independent thinking, and developing each student as an individual. Rather than preparing students only for the next performance or competition, Dong gives them the tools to listen critically, solve problems independently, develop their own artistic judgment, and ultimately become their own teachers. Over the years, his students have received recognition from National YoungArts and the U.S. Presidential Scholars in the Arts program, won prizes in major national and international piano competitions, performed at Carnegie Hall, and continued their studies at leading conservatories and universities including Juilliard, New England Conservatory, Eastman, Peabody, Oberlin, Yale, Stanford, Columbia, and others. Many have gone on to careers both within and far beyond music. For Dong, these achievements are not the ultimate measure of teaching. The deeper goal is to help students develop the curiosity, discipline, resilience, imagination, and independence that remain with them long after they leave the piano studio.
Recognition & Collaborations
Ethan Dong’s work as a pianist and educator has led to recognition and collaborations with artists, educators, and institutions in the United States and internationally. In 2025, he was inducted into the Steinway & Sons Teachers Hall of Fame in recognition of his contributions to piano education. He has served on the faculty of the Oberlin Conservatory Summer Piano Festival since 2015, is an Affiliated Scholar of Oberlin Conservatory, and serves on the Board of the Lake Como International Piano Academy in Italy. His educational initiatives have included the Oberlin–Como Piano Academy Scholarship Program and efforts that helped establish collaboration between Oberlin Conservatory and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). Throughout his teaching career, Dong has also created opportunities for young musicians to work with distinguished artists and pedagogues from leading institutions including The Juilliard School, Curtis Institute of Music, Yale School of Music, New England Conservatory, Oberlin Conservatory, Peabody Institute, USC Thornton School of Music, and the Lake Como International Piano Academy.
Throughout his teaching career, Dong has invited and collaborated with distinguished artists and pedagogues from around the world, creating opportunities for his students to receive guidance from a wide range of musical traditions and perspectives. Artists and educators who have worked with his students or participated in programs he organized include Menahem Pressler (Beaux Arts Trio / Indiana University), William Grant Naboré (Lake Como International Piano Academy), Boris Berman (Yale School of Music), Hung-Kuan Chen (The Juilliard School), Robert McDonald (The Juilliard School / Curtis Institute of Music), Meng-Chieh Liu (Curtis Institute of Music), Stanislav Ioudenitch (Van Cliburn International Piano Competition Gold Medalist), Robert Shannon, Haewon Song, and Angela Cheng (Oberlin Conservatory), Sergey Schepkin and Max Levinson (New England Conservatory), and Ann Schein (Peabody Institute), among others. His students have also participated in masterclasses with renowned musicians including Russell Sherman, Wha Kyung Byun, Dmitri Bashkirov, Matti Raekallio, Julian Martin, Jerome Lowenthal, John Perry, Christopher Elton, Alvin Chow, and Peter Takács. Through these encounters, Dong has sought to expose students not to a single school of thought, but to the broader traditions, ideas, and artistic perspectives of the international music community.
Today
Today, Ethan Dong continues to teach and mentor young pianists in Orange County, while remaining active in music education, artistic collaboration, and international educational initiatives. His work brings together the different parts of his own journey—as a pianist, teacher, mentor, and advocate for the next generation of musicians.
Selected Recordings /
精选录音
01-SOLO / 独奏
Franz Liszt — Piano Sonata in B Minor, S.178 Yi Dong, Piano
02-CHAMBER MUSIC / 室内乐
Antonín Dvořák — Piano Trio No. 3 in F Minor, Op. 65 | Mei-Ann Chen, violin | Katie Schlaikjer, cello | Yi Dong, piano
03-SONGWRITING / 音乐创作
Awakening — Original composition by Ethan Dong
The melody of Awakening first appeared to Ethan Dong in a dream. After waking, he preserved the musical idea and developed it into this original composition—transforming a fleeting moment from the subconscious into music.
关于董老师
Chinese Biography
董奕（Ethan Yi Dong）是旅美钢琴家、教育家，现居加州尔湾。他创办的 Opus119 音乐学校在橙县走过了二十多年；他最看重的不是头衔，而是那些在他的琴房里慢慢长大的孩子。 董奕出生于音乐世家，母亲李斐岚为中央音乐学院钢琴教授，父亲 董刚锐是毕业于中央音乐学院的大提琴家。他从小在琴声中长大，自幼师从父母， 早年接受父亲的音乐启蒙与母亲的钢琴指导，后考入中央音乐学院附小与附中，师从应诗真教授，又先后得到邵元信、潘一鸣、李其芳、凌远、克拉芙琴科等前辈的指点。 少年时，他曾因手部重伤，一度面临可能再也无法弹琴的处境。最艰难的日子里，周广仁教授为他引荐名医，助他度过那段日子。这段经历没有写进他的简历，却写进了他教琴的方式：他比谁都清楚，一个琴童最需要的往往不是更高明的技术，而是在觉得自己不行的时候，有一个人仍然相信他还能回来。后来，他把这份相信原样给了自己的学生。 凭 Herbert Zipper 博士的帮助，他赴美求学。在 Crossroads School 师从 Mary Ann Cummins；在新英格兰音乐学院随 Russell Sherman 获学士学位，在耶鲁大学音乐学院随Claude Frank 获硕士学位，期间又得到 André Watts 与 William Grant Naboré 的指导。从北京到加州，再到波士顿与纽黑文，几位老师教给他的不是某一种弹法，而是用自己的耳朵、想象与判断去理解音乐 - 这正是他今天最想传下去的东西。 他的演奏履历同样有分量：曾获 "珠江奖" 全国少年比赛第一名，在中南海与亚运会舞台上演奏；后获 Heida Hermanns 及东西方国际大赛第一名，在纽约卡内基音乐厅举办独奏会；演出足迹遍及 Jordan Hall、哈佛大学、Segerstrom Concert Hall、Ford Amphitheatre等地，与太平洋交响乐团、北京交响乐团及多家美国乐团合作，并接受过 WQXR、KUSC、CBS、中国国际广播电台等媒体采访。 2004 年，他在橙县创办 Opus119 音乐学校。他的课不急着给答案，而是带着学生聆听、想象、提问，让他们慢慢长出属于自己的艺术判断，直到 "成为自己的老师"。二十多年里，学生在 Gina Bachauer、Virginia Waring、YoungArts 等赛事中获奖，有人入选美国总统艺术学者 (U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts），有人站上卡内基音乐厅；毕业生进入茱莉亚、新英格兰、伊斯曼、皮博迪、欧柏林等音乐学院，以及耶鲁、哈佛、斯坦福、普林斯顿、哥伦比亚等名校。也有的学生后来成了医生、律师、从了政 - 他说，这同样是他教琴的意义：帮年轻人保持好奇与韧性，无论他们最终走向哪里。 2025 年，他入选斯坦（Steinway & Sons）教师名人堂；自 2015 年起任教于欧柏林夏季钢琴节，现任欧柏林音乐学院 Affiliated Scholar、Lake Como 国际钢琴学院理事，推动了Oberlin–Como 奖学金计划及与联合国训练研究所（UNITAR）的合作。他也把世界带进学生的课堂：Menahem Pressler、Boris Berman、Angela Cheng 等音乐家曾受邀到访Opus119，学生也常有机会参加 Russell Sherman、Dmitri Bashkirov 等大师的课程。作为 Opus Music Foundation 的创始人，他还曾任 Crossroads School 音乐领导职务与 MTAC 橙县分会会长，在波士顿大学、科尔本等院校讲学、评审，并长期参与公益演出与国际项目。 从北京到耶鲁，再到尔湾，几十年过去，他依然在橙县教琴。有人问他教琴教什么，他的答案始终简单：教他们听，教他们想，也教他们在走不下去的时候再试一次 - 直到有一天，他们不再需要他，也能听见自己的声音。