Violin: LU Siqing
One of the most prominent and influential Chinese violinists today, LU Siqing (pronounced Lyu See-Ching) performs regularly with major international and Chinese orchestras, in recitals, and with the China Trio which he founded in 2011. As the first Asian violinist to win the prestigious International Paganini Violin Competition, Siqing has performed to acclaim in many of the world’s most prestigious concert halls worldwide, including the Musikverein in Vienna, Avery Fisher Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York City, Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, Southam Hall at National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Maison Symphonique and Place des Arts in Montreal, Barbican Centre, Royal Opera House and Wigmore Hall in London, Theatre Des Champs Elysees and Louis XIV Opera House at Palace of Versailles in Paris, the Great Hall in Moscow, Suntory Hall, Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall in Tokyo, Hamer Hall at the Arts Centre in Melbourne, Sydney Opera House, the Esplanade in Singapore, Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi and the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing among others.
Since 2016, LU Siqing has been a professor at the Institute of Cultural Innovation and Communication of Beijing Normal University. He has taken the promotion of music as his mission and contributed to the development of art. In 2019, LU Siqing, as the first Chinese artist-in-residence in the hundred-year history of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, performed the 2019 opening season concert; in addition, LU Siqing has performed the Legend of Magic Bow II LU Siqing Violin Solo Concert in nearly 30 cities at home and abroad. In addition, Siqing was also invited as a guest soloist on tour with the NCPA Orchestra at the Abu Dhabi Music Festival, the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra at the Bangkok International Dance and Music Festival, the China National Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House, as well as the Qingdao Symphony Orchestra on their historic first ever South America tour.
Siqing appears regularly at many of the top music festivals and prestigious music events around the world. He is the Artistic Director of the National Centre for the Performing Arts May Festival in Beijing and is on the jury of several prestigious international competitions such as the Menuhin Competition and the Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition. In fall of 2016, he founded the LU Siqing Shenzhen Futian International String Festival, of which he is the Artistic Director.
LU Siqing has released more than 20 CDs and video recordings for Philips, Naxos, Marco Polo, and BIS. His five recording versions of the “Butterfly Lovers” violin concerto, the most famous work among the Chinese violin repertoire, have sold millions of copies worldwide. His interpretation of this piece is widely considered the best and he has thrilled audiences in more than twenty countries worldwide performing this violin concerto. His latest recording of the Mendelssohn and Bruch violin concertos as well as TAN Dun's violin concerto “Out of Beijing Opera” with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra was released worldwide by Australia’s ABC Classics to acclaim in March 2018.
Over the past decades, LU Siqing has received numerous honors worldwide for his outstanding artistic achievements and social contributions, including Honorary Certificate from the United States House of Representatives, New Jersey Outstanding Achievement in Arts Award for Asian, California Senate Honorary Certificate, Honorary Certificate from the California Executive Committee of the House on multiple occasions, the Montblanc Outstanding Artist Award, China Youth Magazine's “The 100 Most Influential Young People of the 21^st Century in China” award. On September 16^th of 2006, the City of Millbrae, California passed a legislation to have the date proclaimed as “LU Siqing Day” in honor of Siqing’s achievements.
LU Siqing was born in 1969 in Qingdao, China. He began to study violin at the age of four. As an eight-year-old child, he became the youngest student ever to be admitted by the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing as a special talented student and studied with Prof. WANG Zhenshan. At the age of eleven, the late Lord Yehudi Menuhin chose Siqing to study at his school in London. In 1984, he returned to China for advanced studies at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Five years later, he went to the Juilliard School and studied with Dorothy DeLay and Hyo Kang.
LU Siqing plays the “Miss Crespi” 1699 Stradivari violin, generously loaned to him by Chinese-Australian arts philanthropist Mr. David Li.
 

Piano: SUN Yingdi
SUN Yingdi won First Prize in the 7^th International Franz Liszt Piano Competition held in Utrecht, the Netherlands in April 2005, becoming the first Chinese pianist to win this prestigious competition. Yingdi’s outstanding interpretation of Liszt has been praised by major media reports as “Liszt in primary colors.”
Yingdi has performed with many renowned orchestras, including Mariinsky Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Czech National Symphony Orchestra, Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR, Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra, North Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Prague Symphony Orchestra, Slovenia Philharmonic, National NKO Orchestra Israel, Haifa Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, New Zealand National Symphony Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Macao Orchestra, Singapore Chinese Orchestra, China Philharmonic Orchestra, China National Symphony Orchestra, China NCPA Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, Hangzhou Philharmonic, among others. He has enjoyed collaborations with some of the world-famous conductors, including Valery Gergiev, Myung-Whun Chung, Michel Plasson, Petr Altrichter, Edo de Waart, Zoltan Kocsis, Andreas Ligeti, Jean-Bernard Pommier, Daniel Raiskin, Stephane Dénève, David Stern, Yuri Bashmet, Long Yu, Muhai Tang, Zuohuang Chen, Jia Lü, Tsung Yeh, Lihua Tan, Guoyong Zhang, Xincao Li, Zhong Xu, Dun Tan, among others.
Yingdi has always been an avid chamber musician. At the end of 2011, Yingdi joined with violinist LU Siqing and cellist Qin Li-Wei to form the China Trio. The trio has been becomig the most demanded chamber group and giving performances throughout China.
Yingdi now is the associate professor, the MA supervisor and the Vice Dean of Piano Department, Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Besides, he was on the jury of CCTV Piano Violin Competition, International Anton Rubinstein Competition and International Franz Liszt Piano Competition.
 

Cello: Namisa Sun
Now studying at The Juilliard School with Professor Richard Aaron, Namisa was born into a musical family. She started her musical journey at 4 years old by firstly studying piano with Professor ZHONG Hui at the Central Conservatory of Music, and started learning the cello at age 5 with Professor SONG Tao. Afterwards, she studied with Professor ZHU Mu.
In Moscow when she was 14, Namisa was awarded first place in the 12^th International Moscow Competition for Strings as the youngest contestant in the eldest age group. The following year, she won 1^st place for the 13-15 age group for Grand Prize Virtuoso competition in Salzburg. When Namisa was 16, she was awarded 2^nd prize in the 10^th Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians in Kazakstan. Namisa then achieved first place in the 4^th Knushevitsky Cello Competition in Saratov, Russia in the “under 18” age group the following year. In 2019, she received a full scholarship of the summer program of the Aspen Music Festival.
Namisa has played with numerous orchestras such as the China Philharmonic, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Hangzhou Philharmonic, Harbin Symphony Orchestra, Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, Kunming Symphony Orchestra, and Guangxi Symphony Orchestra. In February 2020, Namisa was scheduled to perform a cello duo with Maestro Lynn Harrell respectively with the China Philharmonic under the baton of famous conductor YU Long and the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra under the baton of conductor XIA Xiaotang. She has had multiple opportunities to perform with the China Trio, which was formed by violinist LU Siqing, cellist QIN Li-Wei, and pianist SUN Yingdi.
Namisa has performed alongside violinist Paloma So and pianist Serena Wang for the opening concert of Deutsche Grammophon's Yellow Lounge in Shanghai. She also performed in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou as a series of New Year’s concerts under the baton of Maestro YU Long. Namisa had her debut with Beijing Symphony orchestra in 2021, playing the Elgar concerto with conductor LI Biao.
She plays on a French cello made by Maestro Patrick Robin.
 
Program
Rachmaninoff: Trio élégiaque No. 1 in g minor
Mendelssohn: Piano Trio No.1 in d minor, Op.49
I. Molto allegro agitato
II. Andante con moto tranquillo
III. Scherzo: Leggiero e vivace
IV. Finale: Allegro assai appassionato
Intermission
Piazzolla: Las 4 Estaciones Porteñas (The Four Seasons in Buenos Aires)
I. Verano Porteño (Summer)
II. Otoño Porteño (Autumn)
III. Otoño Porteñon (Winter)
IV. Primavera Porteña (Spring)
 
(Please check program updates at the concert.)