Zhao Yanchun
Erhu
Zhao Yuanchun (1986, Changzhou, China) is a renowned young Chinese erhu player, a professor at the Folk Music department of the Tianjin Conservatory of Music, and a doctoral candidate at the Central Conservatory of Music.
Born into a musical family, she began playing the erhu at age five, taught by her father Zhao Hanyang. In 1996 she was admitted to the elementary programme of the Central Conservatory of Music, where she went on to study with the renowned erhu pedagogue Yan Jiemin – a mentorship that continues to this day. She has won numerous prizes, including the first prize at the "Tianhua Cup" National Erhu Competition (2001), gold at the "Zhonglu Cup" international competition (2005), and silver at the China Music Golden Bell Award (2009 and 2011).
In 2006, she gave the premiere of Huang Anlun’s erhu concerto "Chinese Capriccio No. 5" with the Hunan Symphony Orchestra. She has performed with, among others, the China National Symphony Orchestra and the Dutch ATLAS Ensemble, with which she premiered Joel Bons’ Nomaden in 2016. She has performed as a soloist in the US, France, and China, and has released various albums and publications on erhu music.
