Shanghai Quartet to join Tianjin Juillard as resident faculty

The Tianjin Juilliard School announces the appointment of the members of the Shanghai Quartet as the school's newest resident faculty, starting in fall 2020. The members of the Shanghai Quartet are violinists Weigang Li and Yi-Wen Jiang, violist Honggang Li, and American cellist Nicholas Tzavaras.

As resident faculty, the members of the Shanghai Quartet will coach chamber music students and give individual lessons to graduate students in Tianjin. They will also perform with students majoring in chamber music as well as with other distinguished resident faculty members from the Tianjin Juilliard School.

"We are thrilled to have members of the Shanghai Quartet join the resident faculty of the school. They are brilliant musicians and inspiring educators who will propel Tianjin Juilliard into the center of chamber music education in China, East Asia and beyond. Throughout their 36 years as a leading chamber music ensemble, they have explored and pursued the highest levels of excellence in collaborative musicianship. They will work and play alongside graduate students majoring in our chamber music program. The appointment of Shanghai Quartet members signals a new era of chamber music education in China," says He Wei, the dean and artistic director of the Tianjin Juilliard School.

The Shanghai Quartet's cellist Tzavaras said: "All of us in the quartet are extremely excited to join the resident faculty of the Tianjin Juilliard School and continue to bring chamber music to the forefront of music education in China. We look forward to working with the inaugural class of chamber music graduate students in 2020, and developing wonderful musical collaborations with our colleagues at the Tianjin Juilliard School."

Formed at the Shanghai Conservatory in 1983, the quartet has worked with the world's most distinguished artists and regularly tours the major music centers of Europe, North America and Asia. Its elegant style melds the delicacy of Eastern music with the emotional breadth of Western repertoire, allowing it to traverse musical genres including traditional Chinese folk music, masterpieces of Western music and cutting-edge contemporary works.