As a doctoral candidate at the Manhattan School of Music, Chinese Violinist Bihan Li earned international recognition as the first prize winner (Grand Prize Nomination) in the 2022 New York International Classical Music Competition. In the same year, she was a prize winner in the 2022 American Virtuoso International Music Competition and the 2022 Medici International Music Competition. During past seasons, Bihan won the first prize in the Golden Classical Music Awards International Competition and second place in the Camerata Artists International Competition in 2019. As a chamber musician, her string quartet won the 2018 Prix Ravel and the prize of Fontainebleau Castle for the Best Interpretation of the Ravel Quartet.
As a rising star on the international stage, Bihan has performed across Asia, America, and Europe. Bihan has been invited to give performances as a soloist at world-renowned venues like the Carnegie, the United Nations Headquarters in the U.S., and the Mozarteum University in Salzburg in 2018. Moreover, she was featured as a soloist and performed with the Orchestra Now under maestro Leon Botstein at Fisher Center at Bard in 2019.
An avid chamber musician, she joined Dawn Upshaw’s concert at National Sawdust as a collaborative violinist, premiering composer Susan Botti’s Italian Folk Songs in New York City in 2019. In addition, her string quartet, by winning the 2018 Prix Ravel, was invited to perform in the Fontainebleau Castle in France. The same year, Bihan was featured in a Mendelssohn Octet performance with her colleagues at the National Theatre of Cuba.
In addition to solo and chamber performances, Bihan enjoys her musical career as a concertmaster in orchestras. In the summer of 2017, she made her first Carnegie Hall debut as the concertmaster of the NYO-China (National Youth Orchestra of China) under Maestro Ludovic Morlot, collaborating with pianists Yujia Wang and Olga Kern. The tour continued at Beijing Concert Hall, Shanghai Oriental Arts Center, and Suzhou Grand Center in China during the summer. Moreover, she was chosen as the representative of NYO-China and gave a speech at Yale School of Music. The same year, Bihan was appointed as the concertmaster of the Bard Conservatory Orchestra under Maestros Leon Botstein and Jean-Marie Zeitouni. In 2019, she joined NYSOS (New York String Orchestra Seminar) under maestro Jaime Laredo and the Juilliard Orchestra under maestros Jeffrey Milarsky and David Robertson.
Bringing music to community spaces has always been an essential part of her musical philosophy. In the summer of 2014, Bihan was invited to teach for public welfare at the only Buddhist art troupe in China – the Hong’an Tiantai Mountain Buddhist Temple Music Troupe; as the adjunct violin faculty there, she held violin master classes and music appreciation activities, leading nuns to experience the charm of Western classical music in the mountains. In 2017, she performed as a chamber musician at school outreach concerts and master classes in Pennsylvania, and in the following year, she was invited to perform at Resident at Kenda on
Hudson, a nonprofit life plan community. Most recently, she joins the the Chamber Music Residency Program at Kimberton Hills Pennsylvania, and is invited to give a non-profit concert during the Thanksgiving holiday, connecting with the fascinating life-sharing community that includes individuals with intellectual disabilities.
Born in Wuhan, China, Bihan holds a Master of Music Degree from the Juilliard School under the tutelage of violinist Ronald Copes, the second violin in the Juilliard Quartet. She completed her double degrees in Violin Performance and Asian Studies as a full-ride scholarship recipient at Bard Conservatory of music, studying with violinist Weigang Li, the first violin in Shanghai Quartet, and violinist Laurie Smukler. Her academic advisors include Li-Hua Ying, Associate Professor of Chinese at Bard, and conductor Jindong Cai, the director of the US-China Music
Institute.
During her senior year at Bard, Bihan’s paper Lin Yaoji—The Legend of Violin Education in China was published by Bard Digital Commons, and she gave a lecturer on her paper as the youngest invitee at the international conference, “Being Humane and Humane: A Look at the Last 100 Years Through Chinese, Russian and American Arts, and Culture,” together with faculties from Bard Early Colleges and Liberal Arts and Sciences of St. Petersburg State University. Besides, Bihan is fond with literature, and in 2017, she published her article in Music Lover magazine in Shanghai, sharing her thoughts on music and life as a musician.
Bihan is a doctoral candidate at the Manhattan School of Music, studying with Professor Nicholas Mann. Bihan is part of an international jury at the Music Star Award International Music Competition in Europe and Forte International Music Competition in USA since 2022. She works as a doctoral teaching assistant on campus and is currently based in New York City with her kitten and plants.