Gary Tong
Organ Played
Christ Church Anglican Calgary
In 1978, Gabriel Kney, a French-Canadian organ-builder working out of London, Ontario built and installed Christ Church’s very fine three-manual mechanical action (tracker) organ. This…
In 1978, Gabriel Kney, a French-Canadian organ-builder working out of London, Ontario built and installed Christ Church’s very fine three-manual mechanical action (tracker) organ. This is the largest tracker organ in a Calgary church and in addition to its regular duties enhancing Sunday worship, is often used as a concert instrument. In 1994, both the console and pipes were moved from the front of the church to a newly-constructed gallery at the back, just in time to be used in the first round of the 1994 International Organ Competition. Since then, it has been featured in numerous “organ crawls” and music festivals.
Biography
Born in Hong Kong, Gary Tong comes from a Methodist family. His mother and grandmother sang in the choir of the Chinese Methodist Church in Hong Kong.
Gary moved to Calgary with his family in 1997 and received his professional musical training in Alberta. He holds degrees from Mount Royal College, the University of Calgary, the University of Alberta (Master of Music in Organ Performance) and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, with majors in piano performance, organ performance and Christian Studies. He was Assistant Organist at Christ Church from 1998 to 2005. He was a finalist in the Calgary International Organ Competition in 2002 and won second prize in the Royal Canadian College of Organists National Playing Competition in 2003. He travelled with the Christ Church Choir to the UK in 1998, 2002, 2005 and 2012, accompanying daily evensong services under the direction of Margie Newman.
In 2005 Gary returned to Hong Kong, where he served in music ministry with the Methodist Church and was music director of the Methodist International Church. In 2006 he became the founding conductor of the University of Hong Kong Christian Choir, and he taught at universities, churches and seminaries in Hong Kong. He has worked many times with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hong Kong Sinfonietta. From 2022 to 2025 he co-hosted “The Transcendent Instrument”, the Hong Kong Cultural Centre’s annual pipe organ education concert, with organist Marsha Chow.
Besides organ and choral music, Gary plays for worship bands and has an interest in musicals and theatre organ music for silent film. He was Music Director for the 2015 Hong Kong production of “This is my Story, This is my Song: The Life of Fanny Crosby”, which had a second run in 2017. In 2019 the Hong Kong Film Archive invited him to accompany the 1921 Swedish silent film “The Phantom Carriage” on the cinema organ. He organized performances of Handel’s Messiah with the Methodist Church in 2019 and 2023, and in 2023 he produced “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” with the Methodist International Church Hong Kong.
Gary returned to Calgary in 2025 as Director of Music at Christ Church, and he teaches organ at the University of Calgary. In 2026 he performed at Convocation Hall, University of Alberta, and on the Kimball theatre organ at Studio Bell, home of the National Music Centre.
“Music is my life. May I use it as an instrument of peace and to love and serve the Lord. Soli Deo Gloria. Amen.”