Christopher Janwong McKiggan, an internationally recognized pianist, was born in Dorset, England in 1985 to a Scottish-English father and Thai mother of Chinese heritage. His family did not stay there long, however, because his family could not afford to live there after being struck by the housing bubble crisis. Chris and his family moved to Bangkok, Thailand, where he spent most of his life. He started playing the piano at the age of six, attended international schools in Bangkok for a short time, and was homeschooled for many years. As an accomplished musician who performed widely in Thailand, Chris got an opportunity to study piano performance at the University of Missouri at Kansas City (UMKC) at age 21 and subsequently moved to the United States. His family stayed back in Thailand. Chris graduated magma cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in piano performance from UMKC and moved to Houston in 2008 to pursue his Master of Arts degree in piano performance at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. He successfully completed his master’s degree and is currently pursuing a degree in the Doctoral of Musical Arts in piano performance at Rice University. During his time in the U.S., he has attended numerous music festivals and given concerts not only in the U.S. but also across the world. Chris has also collaborated with many Asian and American artists.
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