Dan Zhu

He is widely recognized as one of the leading musicians of his generation on today's international scene, praised as "an artist of soulful humility and beautiful tone production" by The Strad magazine, performing internationally in North America, Europe and Asia. His recent triumphant performance with the Boston Symphony at the Tanglewood Festival has been praised by critics as "truly brilliant, compelling and polished."

He has appeared with world-class orchestras under prominent conductors and has been invited to perform at renowned festivals. Dan Zhu's recent seasons include duo recitals with Christoph Eschenbach on Mozart and Beethoven sonatas at the Kennedy Center and the NCPA in Beijing; with pianist Gerhard Oppitz at the Enescu Festival; with Kun Woo Paik on Brahms sonatas for violin and piano; and solo appearance with Zubin Mehta and the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Orchestra.

As an active chamber musician, he has collaborated with pianists Philippe Entremont, Peter Frankl, Richard Goode, Lang Lang, Jean-Yves Thibaudet and other instrumentalists such as Joshua Bell, Henri Demarquette, Nobuko Imai, Mischa Maisky, Paul Meyer. Since 2020, together with violist Diemut Poppen and cellist Danjulo Ishizaka formed String Trio 3D, their performances have been highly praised by Luzerner Zeitung.

He was born in Beijing, where he made his first public appearance at the age of nine with the China Youth Chamber Orchestra. At the age of twelve he was admitted to the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music and at the age of eighteen he made his debut at Carnegie Hall in New York. Dan Zhu has recorded for several international labels and has been invited to give master classes and lectures.

Dan Zhu has collaborated with numerous prominent composers of our time on concert stages and recordings, including George Benjamin, Gyorgy Kurtag, the late Krzysztof Penderecki and Gian-Carlo Menotti, Wolfgang Rihm, Tan Dun, Bright Sheng and Xiaogang Ye. He is also a dedicated member of the Nature Conservancy and the Antarctic Forum in the environmental field, has been on three expeditions to Antarctica and is the first violinist in history to play on that continent in 2013. Since 2021 he is the founder and artistic director of the Etruscan Bloom Festival in Florence, Italy.