Kristopher Tong

Since joining the Borromeo String Quartet, Quartet-in-Residence at the New England Conservatory in March 2006, Kristopher Tong has performed as the ensemble’s second violinist. A member of NEC’s chamber music and violin faculties, he also serves as Assistant Chair of Strings.

Tong has been hailed as a performer of “exceptional insight and creative flair” (Boston Globe). With the Borromeo String Quartet, he has performed in hundreds of concerts across the United States and around the world to critical acclaim. Recent engagements include appearances at Carnegie’s Weill Hall, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Morgan Library, and a presentation of the complete Beethoven quartets at Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Japan.

In addition to his concertizing with the Borromeos, Tong is an active recitalist, chamber musician, and teacher. He has taught and performed at numerous festivals, including the Taos School of Music, Music@Menlo, the Heifetz Institute, and at the Yellow Barn Young Artists Program. Tong has performed on such radio programs as NPR’s “Performance Today,” WGBH’s “Classical Performance,” and was featured on WGBH’s “Classical Connections” in a series entitled “Why Mass.?”

From 2002-2004, Tong was Principal Second Violin with the Verbier Festival Orchestra, with whom he toured throughout Europe, Asia, and the Americas. He has also performed with Mizayaki Festival Orchestra in Japan, the New York String Orchestra, and as a guest soloist with the Verbier Chamber Orchestra under Dmitri Sitkovetsky and Yuri Bashmet. Tong was also a member of the original cast of Classical Savion at the Joyce Theater in New York City, a collaborative project with tap dancer Savion Glover.

Kristopher Tong began his violin studies in a public elementary school program in Binghamton, N.Y. He received his bachelor’s degree at Indiana University in Bloomington, where he studied with Franco Gulli, Yuval Yaron, and Miriam Fried. In 2005 he completed his master’s degree under Fried at the New England Conservatory. He is a sub 3:05 marathoner.