Jay Zhong
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Biography
Highly regarded as a violinist and teacher, Jay Zhong is among a group of extraordinarily gifted musicians that had sprung out of China’s elite music scene and captured the West’s attention. When the iconic violinist Nathan Milstein heard a 14-years-old Zhong’s violin playing, the veteran master exclaimed: “Why spend millions of dollars to buy a Stradivarius when one can make an ordinary violin sound so good?” Subsequently, Milstein introduced Zhong to concert manager Harold Shaw, whom in term staged Zhong’s debut recital in the covet Carnegie Hall main stage and started Zhong's professional career.
Now a seasoned performer, Mr. Zhong has made solo appearances on four continents of the globe and has earned international critical accolades for his recitals in capital cities of the world. With formidable command of the violin and original insights to music Zhong has captivated audiences and musicians alike with his musical sincerity. The Washington Post described “Zhong’s Virtuosity” as “nimble and unassuming… restrained but incisive, and without the bombast that some performers find so irresistible.” Brussels’ Le Soir hailed him as “chinois solar”; California’s Pacifica Tribune called his rendition of Brahms’ sonatas “a golden exploration”, while his performance of Beethoven won such praise from El Colombiano of Medellin: “Jay Zhong, super-violinist, with interpretation worthy of an analogy…” Recently, Mr. Zhong joined a short list of violinists who had recorded Eugene Ysaye’s complete Sonatas for Solo Violin, a set of composition that has attracted as many performers as it has intimidated, due to its reaching technical and interpretive demands on the performer.
An avid chamber musician, Mr. Zhong has been on the roster of the International Chamber Players, Inc. and Bogota International Music Festival Chamber Ensembles. He has performed chamber music with noted musicians, including pianists Yuan Sheng, Audrey Axinn, Robert Koenig, violist Hong Mei Xiao and Hui Liu, and violinists Xiang Gao and Keng Yuen Tseng. Serving as first violinist of the Julstrom String Quartet, he has toured with that ensemble extensively and recorded rarely heard compositions by female composer Rebecca Clarke Centaur label (2007).
Mr. Zhong is the Assistant Professor of Violin and Chamber Music and Director of String Program at the California State University, Los Angeles. Previously, he has held violin professorship at the Western Illinois University, Bogota International School of Music, and the Young Musicians at Purchase program of the State University of New York. He has taught master-classes at the University of Delaware, University of Kansas, the Bogota International Music Festival, Western Illinois University, California State University, Los Angeles, and has given a master-clinic on modern violin pedagogy to the faculty of China’s elite Beijing Central Music Conservatory. An active writer, Mr. Zhong’s essay Chinese Concert Music, A Renaissance was published by China Music Journal of Chinese Music Society of North America and distributed to 160 countries worldwide. He is also the author of a violin-training textbook, A Violinist’s Handbook, A Simpler Manual to Learn the Instrument, published by iUniverse Publications Inc., available worldwide by online booksellers.
Born in Beijing, Jay Zhong began studying violin at age 4 with his parents, who were the Associate Concertmaster in Beijing Symphony and Concertmaster of Central Ballet Orchestra respectively. He won a national audition at age 11 with the fiendish Paganini Violin Concerto No.1 and entered the violin studio of Ke Qiang Sui in the rigorous Beijing Central Conservatory of Music. At age 12, following his successful debut at Beijing Concert Hall, he was chosen by the Communist government to represent China in 1986's Beijing International Violin Competition. Disarrayed by the political climate, Jay Zhong fled the country to pursue studies in the United States. In New York City he was a pupil of the late Russian pedagogue, Raphael Bronstein, an Auer violin-school exponent. Jay Zhong later completed his training with the celebrated violin master Elmar Oliveira. Mr. Zhong holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music and a Master of Fine Arts degree from State University of New York at Purchase.
By invitation, Mr. Zhong has performed on some of the most valuable violins in the world, including the 1717 Stradivari from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Arts, a Pietro Guarneri and a Ruggieri loaned to him by collector Jacques Francais, the "ex-Oliveira" 1692 Stradivari, and a Nicolo Gagliano loaned to him by Dupin de Saint Cyr. A proud enthusiast of modern violins, Jay Zhong performs on a violin made in 2003 by Chinese luthier Qing Yang Liu, which he fondly named “the Bear”. Jay Zhong became a U.S. citizen in 2000, and is married to violinist Lisa Lhee.
Now a seasoned performer, Mr. Zhong has made solo appearances on four continents of the globe and has earned international critical accolades for his recitals in capital cities of the world. With formidable command of the violin and original insights to music Zhong has captivated audiences and musicians alike with his musical sincerity. The Washington Post described “Zhong’s Virtuosity” as “nimble and unassuming… restrained but incisive, and without the bombast that some performers find so irresistible.” Brussels’ Le Soir hailed him as “chinois solar”; California’s Pacifica Tribune called his rendition of Brahms’ sonatas “a golden exploration”, while his performance of Beethoven won such praise from El Colombiano of Medellin: “Jay Zhong, super-violinist, with interpretation worthy of an analogy…” Recently, Mr. Zhong joined a short list of violinists who had recorded Eugene Ysaye’s complete Sonatas for Solo Violin, a set of composition that has attracted as many performers as it has intimidated, due to its reaching technical and interpretive demands on the performer.
An avid chamber musician, Mr. Zhong has been on the roster of the International Chamber Players, Inc. and Bogota International Music Festival Chamber Ensembles. He has performed chamber music with noted musicians, including pianists Yuan Sheng, Audrey Axinn, Robert Koenig, violist Hong Mei Xiao and Hui Liu, and violinists Xiang Gao and Keng Yuen Tseng. Serving as first violinist of the Julstrom String Quartet, he has toured with that ensemble extensively and recorded rarely heard compositions by female composer Rebecca Clarke Centaur label (2007).
Mr. Zhong is the Assistant Professor of Violin and Chamber Music and Director of String Program at the California State University, Los Angeles. Previously, he has held violin professorship at the Western Illinois University, Bogota International School of Music, and the Young Musicians at Purchase program of the State University of New York. He has taught master-classes at the University of Delaware, University of Kansas, the Bogota International Music Festival, Western Illinois University, California State University, Los Angeles, and has given a master-clinic on modern violin pedagogy to the faculty of China’s elite Beijing Central Music Conservatory. An active writer, Mr. Zhong’s essay Chinese Concert Music, A Renaissance was published by China Music Journal of Chinese Music Society of North America and distributed to 160 countries worldwide. He is also the author of a violin-training textbook, A Violinist’s Handbook, A Simpler Manual to Learn the Instrument, published by iUniverse Publications Inc., available worldwide by online booksellers.
Born in Beijing, Jay Zhong began studying violin at age 4 with his parents, who were the Associate Concertmaster in Beijing Symphony and Concertmaster of Central Ballet Orchestra respectively. He won a national audition at age 11 with the fiendish Paganini Violin Concerto No.1 and entered the violin studio of Ke Qiang Sui in the rigorous Beijing Central Conservatory of Music. At age 12, following his successful debut at Beijing Concert Hall, he was chosen by the Communist government to represent China in 1986's Beijing International Violin Competition. Disarrayed by the political climate, Jay Zhong fled the country to pursue studies in the United States. In New York City he was a pupil of the late Russian pedagogue, Raphael Bronstein, an Auer violin-school exponent. Jay Zhong later completed his training with the celebrated violin master Elmar Oliveira. Mr. Zhong holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music and a Master of Fine Arts degree from State University of New York at Purchase.
By invitation, Mr. Zhong has performed on some of the most valuable violins in the world, including the 1717 Stradivari from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Arts, a Pietro Guarneri and a Ruggieri loaned to him by collector Jacques Francais, the "ex-Oliveira" 1692 Stradivari, and a Nicolo Gagliano loaned to him by Dupin de Saint Cyr. A proud enthusiast of modern violins, Jay Zhong performs on a violin made in 2003 by Chinese luthier Qing Yang Liu, which he fondly named “the Bear”. Jay Zhong became a U.S. citizen in 2000, and is married to violinist Lisa Lhee.
