Qizhi enrolled in the undergraduate double-degree program at the Bard College Conservatory of Music in the Fall of 2020 to study guqin performance.
Through Bard’s partnership with the Central Conservatory of Music, she studies guqin under CCOM Professor Zhao Jiazhen.

Chang TingHsuan is a second-year cello graduate student in the Orchestra Department of the Central Conservatory of Music, where she studies under Professor Lim HeeYoung.

Danni enrolled in the double-degree program at the US-China Music Institute of the Bard College Conservatory of Music in the Fall of 2020 to study guqin performance. Through Bard’s partnership with CCOM, she studies under CCOM Professor Zhao Jiazhen.

Xiqiao Chen is a first-year guqin student at the Bard College Conservatory of Music. Prior to coming to Bard she studied guqin at the Attached Middle School of the Tianjin Conservatory of Music. Xiqiao studied the violin and painting since childhood, and began learning the guqin at the age of 9.

JinOu started at Bard in the Fall of 2019. As a student of the double-degree program at the US-China Music Institute of the Bard College Conservatory of Music, Jinou is majoring in pipa performance and global and international studes. Through Bard’s partnership with the Central Conservatory of Music, JinOu studies under the guidance of CCOM Professor Zhang Qiang.

Monika Dziubelski is a third-year student at Bard College and Conservatory, where she is pursuing degrees in chemistry and flute performance, studying with Dr. Tara O’Connor. She has participated in multiple youth orchestras, most notably Western Connecticut Youth Orchestra, winning their concerto competition in 2018, and the New York Youth Symphony Orchestra, with whom she made her Carnegie Hall debut, as well as recorded a studio album under conductor Michael Repper and with producer Judith Sherman. With composer and conductor Tan Dun and the Bard Philharmonic Orchestra, Monika traveled to Haikou in Hainan Province, China, at the end of 2019 to open the Haikou Bay Performing Arts Center. Monika has had the opportunity to learn from Dr. Tara Helen O’Connor, Linda Chesis, and Jeffery Zook through masterclasses and seminars, as well as perform and discuss music virtually with Echo: Musicians Connect. She is Bard College’s Alexander Borodin Scholar of 2021.

Duan Zhiyi is a freshman majoring in percussion at the Central Conservatory of Music. She studies with CCOM Professor Jia Qiao.

Lin Baicun is a sophomore majoring in banhu at the Central Conservatory of Music. He is studying under CCOM Professor Yu Hu.

Kendall Griffith joined the Bard Conservatory in the Fall of 2022 with a major in pipa performance. Originally from Boston, she has been studying pipa for several years, as well as the Chinese language. At Bard she is studying with master teacher Zhang Hongyan, the head of the Traditional Instruments Department at the Central Conservatory of Music.

Violinist Isabel Chin Garita is in her first year at Bard Conservatory studying with Professors Gil Shaham and Adele Anthony. She started playing the violin at age 5 and has studied at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School, Project Step (String Training Education Program, 2013-2019) and Project BEAM (Bridge to Equity and Achievement in Music). Her teachers have included Magdalena Richter and Jin Kyung-Joen. She is the recipient of the Eleanor L. Campbell Scholarship and the George James Webb Scholarship, sponsored by the Boston Society of New Jerusalem. As a soloist, she has performed with several orchestras including the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Costa Rican National String Orchestra, New England Youth Repertory Orchestra, Rivers Conservatory Ensemble, and Nashua Chamber Orchestra. In addition to solo performances, Chin enjoys chamber music and collaborating with other musicians. She performed as the Chin Duo with her brother on From The Top, a live broadcast radio station featuring promising young musicians. She also spent many years as part of Project STEP’s Honors Quartet. For the past few summers, she has attended the Bowdoin International Music Festival, studying with Almita Vamos, Robin Scott, and Mikhail Kopelman. Her music has taken her to worldwide concert halls in Boston, Costa Rica, Spain, Czech Republic, and Hungary.

Lin Chenxiehang is a second year graduate student at the Central Conservatory of Music, where she studies erhu with Professor Yu Hongmei. During the 2020-21 academic year she has served as a US-China Music Fellow at the Bard College Conservatory of Music, where she teaches erhu and provides support for the Chinese Ensemble.

Shutong Li, from Inner Mongolia, China, recently graduated from the Bard graduate conducting program. Although originally trained as an industrial engineer, he came to the US in 2013 to pursue his music dream. In 2017, he founded an orchestra under the name “Musicians For Musicians” and has organized and conducted 19 concert projects with 34 concerts, which also hosted over 40 young opera artists and instrumental soloists. Shutong believes the world of music is an organic ecosystem, and musicians especially need to support each other. This Spring, Shutong is very honored to be the assistant conductor at Bard US-China Music Institute.

Yifan started at Bard in the Fall of 2020, enrolling in the double-degree program at the Bard College Conservatory of Music, where he studies dizi with Professor Chen Tao.

Beitong enrolled in the first year of the Chinese instrument double-degree program at the Bard Conservatory in the Fall of 2018 to study erhu. Through Bard’s partnership with the Central Conservatory of Music, she studies with CCOM Professor Yu Hongmei. Her second major is global and international studies.

Lucina Yue is a candidate for the Master of Arts in Chinese Music and Culture at the Bard College Conservatory of Music. She is focusing on guzheng performance. She is also an accomplished player of the konghuo, a form of Chinese harp.

Chang enrolled in the first year of the double-degree program in Chinese instruments at the Bard College Conservatory of Music to study erhu. Through Bard’s partnership with the Central Conservatory of Music, she studies erhu with CCOM Professor Yu Hongmei.

Liu Yiqiu is a second-year graduate student at the Central Conservatory of Music, where she studies pipa with Professor Zhang Qiang. During the 2020-21 academic year, she has served as a US-China Music Fellow in the Bard Conservatory, teaching pipa and supporting the Bard Chinese Ensemble.

Wenjun Lu (Jessy) is a pipa major in the Bard College Conservatory of Music. She attended the Affiliated Secondary School of Nanjin University of The Arts to learn pipa. Later, she studied with Professor Zhao Jie of the Central Conservatory of Music. Her master teacher at Bard is CCOM Professor Zhang Qiang.

Xiaoyan has shown a strong interest in music since her childhood. She started to learn pipa from a professional pipa teacher at the age of eight. After graduation from primary school, she was admitted to the Affiliated Middle School of Guangxi Art University. She takes an active part in many national instrument competitions and all kinds of performances, and served as the leader of the school's Chinese orchestra and the school’s pipa group, which achieved results in many competitions. Xiaoyan was admitted to Bard Conservatory in 2020, where she studies under Central Conservatory of Music Professor Zhang Qiang.

Yuling is majoring in ruan in the double-degree program at the Bard College Conservatory of Music. Through Bard’s partnership with the Central Conservatory of Music, she studies with CCOM Professor Xu Yang. Her second major is Chinese studies.

Qi Miao is a first year graduate student at the Central Conservatory of Music, where she studies guqin under Professor Zhao Jiazhen. During the 2020-21 academic year, she has served as a US-China Music Fellow for the Bard College Conservatory of Music, providing teaching for Bard’s undergraduate guqin majors and supporting the Bard Chinese Ensemble.

Wenrui Shi is a candidate for the Master of Arts in Chinese Music and Culture at the Bard Conservatory. Wenrui studies Guqin with master teacher Zhao Jiazhen of the Central Conservatory of Music.

Sun Dunlong is a junior majoring in trumpet at the Central Conservatory of Music. He is studying under CCOM Professor Chen Guang.

Sun Waiki is a first-year graduate student at the Central Conservatory of Music, where she studies ruan with Professor Xu Yang. During the 2020-21 academic year, she has served as a US-China Music Fellow at the Bard Conservatory, providing ruan teaching and support for the Bard Chinese Ensemble.

Sun Yue is a second-year graduate student at the Central Conservatory of Music, where she studies percussion with Professor Wang Jianhua.

Tai Yixiao is a sophomore at the Central Conservatory of Music, where she studies erhu with Professor Huang Sun.

Chen Wang came to Bard to study erhu in the Fall of 2019. Her master teacher is Professor Chen Wang of the Central Conservatory of Music.

Wang Kehan (Eric) is majoring in guqin performance in the Bard College Conservatory of Music. He studies with Professor Zhao Jiazhen of the Central Conservatory of Music, and has performed with her many times. He won the gold award in the China Instrumental Music Competition held by Eastman Conservatory of Music in 2018 and the Hongqin Cup Gold Award twice in 2019.

Betty enrolled in the first year of the Chinese instruments double-degree program at the US-China Music Institute of the Bard College Conservatory of Music in the Fall of 2018. Betty studies guzheng under Professor Zhou Wang of the Central Conservatory of Music. Her second major is art history.

Yixin enrolled as a guzheng major in the first year of the double-degree program in Chinese instruments at the Bard Conservatory in the Fall of 2018. Through Bard’s partnership with the Central Conservatory of Music, she is studying with CCOM Professor Zhou Wang. Yixin’s second major is mathematics.

Zhe Wang is a candidate for the Master of Arts in Chinese Music and Culture at the Bard Conservatory. His focus is on Guqin performance. Zhe studies with master teacher Zhao Jiazhen of the Central Conservatory of Music.

Xu Xinyi is in her second year in the postgraduate degree program at the Central Conservatory of Music, where she is studying guzheng under Professor Zhou Wang. During the 2020-21 academic year, Xinyi is serving as a US-China Music Fellow for the Bard College Conservatory of Music, providing teaching and program support for Bard’s guzheng majors and the Bard Chinese Ensemble. (Not performing in the Spring Concert.)

Ye Yuzhao is a second year graduate student studying yangqin at the Central Conservatory of Music. He studies with CCOM Professor Liu Yuening.

Yijie is a ruan major in the Bard College Conservatory of Music double-degree program. Through Bard’s partnership with the Central Conservatory of Music, she studies ruan with CCOM Professor Xu Yang.

Zhang Aoxuan is in his first year studying sheng at the Central Conservatory of Music. He studies with CCOM Professor Wang Lei.

Ethan Young is a first year at Bard Conservatory in Peter Wiley’s cello studio. Having graduated from Eastport South Manor Jr. Sr. High School in Manorville, New York, in 2021, he participated in the orchestra, chamber ensemble, and pit orchestra among other performing ensembles with schoolmates. He studied cello with Annette Perry Delihas for six years, was a member of her cello ensemble throughout high school, and is an alumnus of the BAM Young People’s Orchestra/Chamber Ensemble and the MYO Suffolk Principal Orchestra, the former of which he performed the Haydn Cello Concerto in C Major with in Spring 2021. He has been a member of The East End Youth Quartet, Southampton Strings Festival and NYSSSA 2020, as well as various music festivals local to Long Island throughout his high school career (LISFA, HMEA, SCMEA), the NYSSMA All State Symphony Orchestra in 2019, and the NAfME All Eastern and All National Symphony Orchestras in 2021.

Ethan has also participated in masterclasses given by cellists such as Alberto Parrini and Tomoko Fujita, and was awarded numerous music scholarships leaving high school, such as the ESM Music Boosters Yo Yo Ma Orchestra Scholarship, the Michael Tortorice Scholarship for the Arts, the NYSCAME Robert W. Kruger Memorial Scholarship, and the St. Jude’s RC Church Arts Scholarship. In February 2021, Ethan placed third in the 2021 MYO Concerto Competition. He enjoys giving back to the community with free recitals, and had played volunteer services at St. Jude’s RC Church in Mastic, NY, Sunday evenings from Fall 2018 until his departure for Bard.

Zhou Liangyao is a sophomore majoring in double-bass at the Central Conservatory of Music. She studies with CCOM Professor Yi Song.

Hongchen is a second-year transfer student studying guzheng in the Bard College Conservatory of Music. She studies with Professor Zhou Wang of the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing.

Lu Xi, or Lucy, is a candidate in the Master of Arts in Chinese Music and Culture at the Bard Conservatory. Lucy is studying ethnomusicology and pipa performance.

Eric Zheng will pursue a Master of Arts in Chinese Music and Culture at the Bard Conservatory with a focus on suona performance. He is studying with suona master and Bard faculty member Yazhi Guo. Originally from Tucson, Arizona, Eric previously studied saxophone performance at Michigan State and Northwestern University.

Yining came to Bard from Texas in the Fall of 2021 to major in Chinese percussion at the Bard College Conservatory of Music’s Chinese instrument double degree program. She is studying with Professor Qiao Jia of the Central Conservatory of Music.

The Bard East/West Ensemble, as the name suggests, aims to combine the instrumentation and musical traditions of the East and the West, to bring together Chinese music and Western music, and to seek a new model of cross-cultural music cooperation. Under the direction of Jindong Cai, the ensemble is comprised of young musicians from the Bard Conservatory of Music and invites accomplished artists to collaborate as guest soloists.

Jindong Cai, artistic director
Yifan Lin, dizi; JinOu Dong, pipa; Sibei Betty Wang, guzheng; Yijie Yin, ruan/liuqin; Yining Zhu, percussion; Michael Knox, bass; Yi-ting Joy Kuo, violin; Beitong Liu, erhu; Nalin Myoung, violin; Pecos Singer, cello; Emmanuel Koh En Yu, viola