A dynamic and versatile pianist, Dean Zhang appears internationally in critically acclaimed performances. Dr. Zhang has been praised by The Miami Herald as “a powerful keyboard player” yet with a “smooth, fluid touch at the keyboard, bringing maximum expressiveness.” A laureate of numerous competitions, Dr. Zhang won first prize in the Snowy Range Piano Competition as well as the MTNA Young Artist Piano Performance Northwest Division Competition. He has been featured as a soloist with the New World Symphony as a winner of its concerto competition and has also performed concertos with the Shanghai University Symphony, the University of Wyoming Symphony, the National Repertory Orchestra, and most recently the Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestra. Highlights of the coming season including concerto performances with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra and the Canton Symphony Orchestra.
As principal keyboardist for the Omaha Symphony, Dr. Zhang performed with the orchestra in more than 200 concerts and presentations during the 2015–2016 season. He was a piano fellow with the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, Florida, and was invited for two summers as principal keyboardist with the National Repertory Orchestra in Breckenridge, Colorado. Dr. Zhang currently serves as principal keyboardist with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, the Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestra and the Canton Symphony Orchestra. An active chamber musician, he joined the Astralis Chamber Ensemble in 2018 with critically acclaimed tours across Georgia and Florida.
In addition to his achievement in piano performance, Dr. Zhang is an outstanding organist and was featured with the New World Symphony as the organ soloist in Saint-Saëns’s Symphony No. 3. He has also served as the principal organist and artist in residence at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Cathedral in Laramie, Wyoming, and United Methodist Church of Chagrin Falls, Ohio.
After two years of studying management science at Shanghai University, Dr. Zhang was granted a full scholarship at the University of Wyoming where he received his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees as a student of Dr. Theresa Bogard. Under the tutelage of Paul Schenly and Kathryn Brown, he earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music. Dr. Zhang also studied extensively with Joela Jones, principal keyboardist of The Cleveland Orchestra. A devoted pedagogue, Dr. Zhang joined the piano faculty of the New England Music Camp in 2015 and has presented master classes at universities throughout the United States and China.