An avid chamber musician and collaborative pianist, Taide Ding began his musical studies at age 4 in Tokyo, Japan, and studied stateside in his pre-college years with Dr. Ian Hominick, during which he was named an MTNA National Finalist among other accolades. In addition to degrees in Computer Science and Economics, Taide holds a Certificate in Piano Performance from Stanford, having studied solo piano with Dr. Frederick Weldy and Dr. William Wellborn, as well as chamber and collaborative piano with Dr. George Barth and Laura Dahl. While at Stanford, Taide performed with the Stanford Philharmonia and Stanford Collaborative Orchestra both as a concerto soloist and as an orchestral pianist, as well as with the Stanford Light Opera Company and numerous instrumentalists, vocalists, and chamber groups. He is a recipient of the Carol and Peter Polk Music Award, the Blew-Culley-LaFollette Prize, and the Butler Prize in Piano Performance, as well as a winner of the Stanford Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition and the Stanford Mozart-Haydn Concerto Competition.