Sophie Tang
Western Michigan University School of Music
Assistant Professor of Violin
Sophie Tang
Education:
- DMA, Violin Performance, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music
- MM, Violin Performance, University of Southern California
- BM, Violin Performance, Renmin University of China
Bio:
Junqi Tang is the newly appointed Assistant Professor of Violin at Western Michigan University beginning August 2022. She previously served on the violin faculty of the University of Toledo School of Music, and was invited to serve on a distinguished panel of judges for the 2022 New York Laureate International Music Competition and 2021 Hong Kong International Violin Competition & Chamber Music Competition. She is the founder and artistic director of the Hantong International Summer Music Festival as well as the music director of the Cincinnati Music and Arts Society. She has been a First Prize winner in the 2021 Golden State International Music Competition, 2019 Hong Kong International Music Festival, and an excellence in performance award at the 2016 Schoenfeld International String Competition. As an accomplished orchestral musician, Tang has performed with the Cincinnati Symphony, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, National Arts Center Orchestra in Ottawa Canada, and extensively with the Toledo Symphony.
Tang received her doctoral degree from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, studying with Kurt Sassmannshaus, and her Master of Music at the University of Southern California under Suli Xue. She is a Bachelor of Music recipient from Renmin University of China under Hsiaowei Chen, and an Artist Diploma from the McDuffie Center for Strings. Her former teachers and mentors include Robert McDuffie, David Halen, Amy Moretti, Gregory Lee, Yuxi Liu, and Lingwei Xu.
During her school career, Tang has participated in many distinguished music festivals including the Aspen Music Festival, Texas Music Festival, Bowdoin Music Festival, Asian Youth Orchestra, National Arts Center in Canada, Sarasota Music Festival, Bowdoin International Music Festival, and the Great Wall International Music Festival. She soloed on the Glazounov Concerto with the Starling Chamber Orchestra, recorded Romance for Violin by Antonin Dvorak, and is featured on the violinmasterclass.com website. She was a premier member of the International YouTube Symphony in 2011 under maestro Michael Tilson Thomas, and performed in the National Arts Center Orchestra in Ottawa under the baton of maestro Pinchas Zukerman.
As an avid chamber musician, Tang was the founding violinist of Cincinnatus String Quartet and continues to lead a chamber music festival in Cincinnati with her directing the Cincinnati Music and Arts Society. Her organization provides profound social impact in the arts for the greater Cincinnati area and has included presenting artists like Mattias Pintscher, Alisa Weilerstein, and Alexander Kazovsky.
A devout teacher, Tang has over 10 years of teaching experience in universities. In addition to WMU, she has taught as faculty member of the Starling Preparatory Program at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and at the Great Wall International Music Academy in Beijing. Her students have been top prize winners at the China-Korea International Violin Competition, Hong Kong International Violin Competition, Schoenfeld International String Competition Aficionado Division, and University of Toledo concerto competition. Her students have received full scholarships to attend the Texas Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Hantong International Music Festival, and Sounding Point Academy, as well as receiving offers from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and Arizona State University for doctoral degrees, and the Tianjin Juilliard School and Royal Northern College of Music for master’s degrees.
