Our Master Class Leaders

Lei Wei Qin, cello
Judge’s Sponsor: Zhang Financial

An exclusive Universal Music China Artist, Li-Wei Qin has appeared all over the world as a soloist and as a chamber musician.  After achieving great success at the 11th Tchaikovsky International Competition where he was awarded the Silver Medal, Li-Wei has since won the First Prize in the prestigious 2001 Naumburg Competition in New York. “A superbly stylish, raptly intuitive performer” Gramophone Magazine, January 2015) was the description of the cellist’s Elgar and Walton concerti recording with the London Philharmonic.

Highlights in the 2017/18 season includes debut with the London Symphony, Russian Philharmonic, Czech Chamber and Brussels Chamber Orchestras. Return visits to the China Philharmonic, Guangzhou Symphony and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras.

Two times soloist at the BBC Proms in London’s Royal Albert Hall, Li-Wei has enjoyed successful artistic collaborations with many of the world’s great orchestras including all the BBC symphony orchestras, the Los Angeles philharmonic, London Philharmonic, the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, the NDR-Sinfonierorchester Hamburg, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Basel Symphony, the Prague symphony, the Osaka Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, China Philharmonic, the Sydney Symphony and Melbourne Symphony among many others. Leading conductors with whom he has worked include Vladimir Ashkenazy, Sir Andrew Davis, Marek Janowski, Jaap Van Zweden, Jiri Belohlavek, Jan Pascal Totelier, Hans Graf, Yu Long, the late Machello Viotti and the late Lord Menuhin. Li-Wei has also appeared with chamber orchestras such as the Kremerata Baltika, Sinfonia Vasovia, the Munich, the Zurich, the Australian Chamber Orchestras.

In recital and chamber music, Li-Wei is a regular guest at the Wigmore Hall and for the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, New York. He has appeared at the BBC Proms, the Rheinghau, the City of London, the Schlewigs-Holstein and the Mecklenburg Festivals. Li-Wei has collaborated with musicians such as Daniel Hope, Nabuko Imai, Misha Maisky, David Finckel, Wu Han, Vladimir Mendelssohn and Peter Frankel, among many others.

Li-Wei’s recordings on Universal Music/Decca include the complete Beethoven Sonatas, Works of Rachmaninov with pianist Albert Tiu, Dvořàk Concerto with Singapore Symphony Orchestra and conductor Lan Shui and Elgar/Walton Concerti with the London Philharmonic. Most recently, courtesy of Universal Music, Li-Wei’s 2013 live concert with the Shanghai Symphony and Maestro Yu Long has been released on Sony Classical.

Born in Shanghai Li-Wei moved to Australia at the age of 13, before accepting scholarships to study with Ralph Kirshbaum at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester and with David Takeno at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. He was invited to join the BBC ‘New Generations’ scheme in 2001 and in 2002, Li-Wei received the Young Australian of the Year Award. Other major invitations included appearances at both the 2008 Beijing Olympics (New Zealand Symphony), 2012 London Olympics and the Davos World Economics Forum (Basel Symphony Orchestra).

Prior to teaching at the YST Conservatory, Li-Wei was a professor of cello at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester. He is also a guest professor at Shanghai and Central Conservatory of Music in China. Li-Wei plays a 1780 Joseph Guadagnini cello, generously loaned by Dr and Mrs Wilson Goh.

www.liweiqin.com

Caroline Coade, viola

Violist Caroline Coade is passionate about her teaching and helping her students achieve success and excellence both off and on the concert stage. In Fall 2023, Coade received a promotion to Associate Professor of Viola at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre, and Dance (SMTD) in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Her prize-winning students include 2019 and 2022 Sphinx Competition Sr. Division prize winners, a 2019 Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition semi-finalist, the top prizewinner of the Society of Musical Arts 2019 Young Artist Competition, and a finalist of the 2018 Anton Rubinstein International Viola Competition. In recent auditions, Professor Coade’s students have won positions in the Diversity Fellowship for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (2020-2022 seasons), the African-American Fellowship with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) viola section (2023-2025 seasons), and 5 additional students won positions on the DSO viola sub list.

Coade is also a distinguished performer, currently serving as the 3rd Chair Violist with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Previously, she was the Acting Assistant Principal Violist at DSO from 2013-2016. Her career includes performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic, along with positions with the Concerto Soloists Chamber Orchestra and the opera companies of Philadelphia and Santa Fe.

In addition to her performance and teaching career, Coade is an active adjudicator and advocate for arts education. She has judged prestigious competitions such as the Primrose International Viola Competition and regularly returns as Artist Faculty to renowned summer festivals, including the Meadowmount School of Music, Heifetz International Music Institute, and the Hilton Head Chamber Music Institute. Her extensive summer teaching experience also includes roles at the Center Stage Strings/MPulse Institute at the University of Michigan, Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival (VT), Bowdoin International Music Festival (ME) the Brancaleoni International Music Festival (Italy), and the Chautauqua Institution Music Festival (NY).

A frequent chamber musician, Coade collaborates with colleagues from the Detroit Symphony, University of Michigan, and her colleagues at summer music festivals. She has performed at the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival (MI), Laurel Festival of the Arts (PA), and the Marlboro Music Festival (VT).

A San Diego native, Coade began taking Suzuki violin lessons at age 6 and switched to the viola at age 14. She graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy and went on to receive a Bachelor of Music from the Oberlin Conservatory, an Artist Diploma from The Curtis Institute of Music, and a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School. Her principal teachers include Karen Tuttle, Jeffrey Irvine, Joyce Robbins, David Takeno, David Holland, and Eugene Becker.

Rachel Barton Pine, violin
Concert Presenting Sponsor: Elizabeth Upjohn Mason

Heralded as a leading interpreter of the great classical masterworks, violinist Rachel Barton Pine thrills audiences with her dazzling technique, lustrous tone, and emotional honesty. With an infectious joy in music-making and a passion for connecting historical research to performance, Pine transforms audiences’ experiences of classical music.

Pine performs with the world’s leading orchestras including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Camerata Salzburg, and the Chicago, Vienna, and Detroit Symphony Orchestras. She has worked with renowned conductors, including Teddy Abrams, Marin Alsop, Daniel Barenboim, Semyon Bychkov, Neeme Järvi, Christoph Eschenbach, Erich Leinsdorf, Nicholas McGegan, Zubin Mehta, Tito Muñoz, and John Nelson, and has performed chamber music with Jonathan Gilad, Clive Greensmith, Paul Neubauer, Jory Vinikour, William Warfield,
Orion Weiss, and the Pacifica and Parker Quartets.

This summer and 2023/24 season, Pine joins the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Stéphane Denève at the Hollywood Bowl, in addition to highlight performances with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and recital appearances at the Kennedy Center and Festival Internacional de Música de Guadalajara, among many others performances of repertoire ranging from Early
Music to romantic and contemporary.

She has recorded over 40 acclaimed albums, many of which have hit the top of the charts. In August 2023, Cedille Records released Dependent Arising, featuring concertos by Shostakovich and Earl Maneein performed with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) and Tito Muñoz. Other recent records include Violin Concertos by Black Composers Through the Centuries: 25th Anniversary Edition (September 2022) with the RSNO and Jonathon Heyward, and Malek Jandali: Concertos (March 2023) with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and Marin
Alsop.

She frequently performs music by contemporary composers, including major works written for her by Billy Childs, Mohammed Fairouz, Marcus Goddard, Earl Maneein, Shawn Okpebholo, Daniel Bernard Roumain, José Serebrier, and Augusta Read Thomas. In addition to her career as a soloist, she is an avid performer of baroque, renaissance, and medieval music on baroque violin, viola d’amore, renaissance violin, and rebec.

She has appeared on The Today Show, CBS Sunday Morning, CNN, PBS NewsHour, A Prairie Home Companion, and NPR’s Tiny Desk. She holds prizes from several of the world’s leading competitions, including a gold medal at the 1992 J.S. Bach International Violin Competition in Leipzig, Germany. Her RBP Foundation assists young artists through its Instrument Loan Program and Grants for Education and Career, and since 2001, has run the groundbreaking Music by Black Composers
project.

She performs on the “ex-Bazzini, ex-Soldat” Joseph Guarnerius “del Gesù” (Cremona 1742), on lifetime loan from her anonymous patron.

rachelbartonpine.com