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Qin Qian – Chinese New Year Celebration – Jazz Cultural Voices
Qin Qian – Chinese New Year Celebration – Jazz Cultural Voices
PNC Arts Alive Jazz Cultural Voices Series is proud to present a very special Chinese New Year Celebration featuring master erhu performer Qin Qian, whose career reflects a lifelong dedication to sharing and preserving traditional Chinese music. Trained in China by renowned erhu masters Huang Qidu and Zhang Yuming, she has performed extensively both as a soloist and with major ensembles including the Guangxi Symphony Orchestra. Since relocating to the United States in 2005, she has continued to bring traditional Chinese sounds to global audiences through concerts, recordings, and cross-cultural collaborations.
Her performance career spans multiple genres and continents. Ms. Qin has worked with jazz bands, classical musicians, and global artists, bringing the erhu into diverse musical settings. Highlights include playing with the Arpeggio Jazz Orchestra, performing original compositions like “Mountain Stream” with Western classical musicians, and recording Italian folk songs in Australia. Her performance of “God Bless Sichuan” in collaboration with the group Siris raised earthquake relief funds and gained over six million views in China, showcasing her ability to connect deeply with both Chinese and international audiences.
As a cultural ambassador, Ms. Qin blends performance with education to promote the erhu and Chinese musical heritage in the West. She regularly gives lectures and concerts at institutions such as St. Joseph’s University, the University of the Arts, and the Curtis Institute of Music. In these programs, she introduces audiences to traditional instruments like the erhu, monochord, and guzheng, and often combines Chinese and Western styles in her arrangements. Her concerts—such as “The Emotive Beauty of the Erhu” and “When the Erhu Meets the Piano”—explore music’s power to transcend cultural boundaries.
Through her performances, teaching, and innovations like her “Pentatonic Music of Yang Sheng Qigong” program, Ms. Qin continues to preserve and evolve the tradition of Chinese music. She views music as a bridge across cultures and generations, and her work ensures the erhu is not only remembered but reimagined in new and meaningful ways.
Prepare to be spellbound as Qin Quan redefines the expressive power of the erhu, weaving together global musical traditions in a vibrant celebration of the Lunar New Year at the Philadelphia Clef Club.
