Bryan Zhe Wang CMC ’24 is one of the first candidates in the Master of Arts in Chinese Music and Culture program at the Bard College Conservatory of Music, studies with guqin virtuoso Professor Zhao Jiazhen. Wang won gold awards in 2019 and 2022 in Chinese national guqin competitions. In the 2021 Singapore International Guqin Invitational Tournament, he ranked first in both the traditional and nontraditional categories. In 2022, he won the Bard Conservatory Concerto Competition. Before coming to Bard, Wang obtained a BA in English and MA in translation and interpretation from Beijing Foreign Studies University. While there, he played the guqin for the prime minister of Slovenia. Wang’s guqin playing has received over 160,000 views on Bilibili.com, one of China’s most popular video-sharing platforms. His latest guqin solo cover, “Thrill Me Suite,” was retweeted by Stephen Dolginoff, composer of the original musical Thrill Me.