Hailed as one of the most exciting, innovative and respected erhu masters today, the Gemini Award nominated erhu master George Gao began studying the erhu at the age of six, a few years later, he won First Prize at the Shanghai Junior Instrumental Soloist Competition and a Silver Medal at the China National Junior Instrumental Soloist Contest in 1982. In 1985, he swept the three highest prizes of the Beijing China National Invitational erhu Competition. In 1999, He won a Recognition Award for his appearance at the 13th World Festival for Young Students in Pyongyang, North Korea.

George Gao studied at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.

After winning the first prize in the Beijing National Erhu Competition, George Gao launched on a truly international performing career. He toured the US, Canada, France, Germany, Denmark, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and China extensively and featured as a soloist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Aalborg Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, Taiwan National Chinese Orchestra, National Arts Center Symphony Orchestra, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and I Musici etc. George Gao has also performed many recitals, including appearances at the Glenn Gould Studio, the Royal Conservatory of Music (Toronto), City Hall Concert Hall (Hong Kong), and the National Concert Hall (Taipei). Billions of people around the world have watched him on CCTV, China's most watched TV station.

George Gao is a hot session player, his erhu performance is frequently recorded by many world renowned composers, film, record producers. George is featured in the soundtrack for the popular science fiction television program Earth: Final Conflict, which has been nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Main Title Theme Music. George is also featured in the soundtrack for the short documentary film The Blood Of Yingzhou District, which won the Oscar for Documentary Short Subject in 2007.

An enthusiast of many musical styles, George organized the Beijing rock band Red Maple Leaf and the pop group Snowman. In Toronto, he collaborated with many world music artists including Jesse Cook, Donald Quan, Ron Korb and joined many world music ensembles such as Bowfire, Silk Orchestra, George Gao Ensemble and Memento. He has pioneered the development of new music for the erhu, fusing traditional Chinese music with jazz, Western Classical music, New Age, and other ethnic music from different world cultures.

As a composer, George Gao has composed music for many films and documentaries. He co-composed with Brian Keane for Bill Moyer's Productions/Lenon Documentary 3 part documentary film "Becoming American, the Chinese Experience". He is also a songwriter who has a few hit songs in China. He has written many erhu works including "Capriccio for Erhu", which was designated as compulsory work for the final round of the "2002 International Dragon Cup Erhu Competition" and "Erhu Capriccio No. 2 - Mongolian Fantasy", which was designated as compulsory work for the final round of the "2008 Shanghai Spring Festival International Erhu Competition".

As a guest professor of many post secondary institutions, George Gao frequently gives music master classes in prestiges music schools such as Shanghai Conservatory.


Singapore-born composer Jon Lin Chua credits her versatility in traversing musical cultures and genres to her eclectic musical background.

 

Jon Lin is currently the composer-in-residence of the Toronto Chinese Orchestra for the 2018-2019 concert season.  Recent composition awards include the First Prize (large ensemble category) as well as the Young Singaporean Composer award on the 3rd Singapore International Composition Competition for Chinese Chamber Music, "Composium 2018," organized by the Ding Yi Music Company (Singapore).  As composer, she has also worked with groups such as the Toronto Chinese Orchestra as the current composer-in-residence, MusicaNova Orchestra (Phoenix AZ) as the orchestra’s composition fellow for the 2015-2016 season, the Ju Percussion Group (Taipei), EL Music Group (Seoul), the Southeastern Ensemble for Today’s and Tomorrow’s Sounds (Singapore), the Singapore Chinese Orchestra, Ding Yi Music Company (Singapore), Orchestra Collective (Singapore), 成都天资国乐 (Chengdu, Sichuan), the Guitar Ensemble of the National University of Singapore, and has had works performed in festivals such as the 2019 China-ASEAN New Music Festival (Nanning, Guangxi, 2019), ACL-Korea "Seoul Asia Waves" International Conference and Festival (Seoul, 2019), the inaugural Dot The Line New Music Festival (Seoul, 2019), the 35th Asian Composers League Conference and Festival (Taipei, 2018), 18th Biennial Festival of New Music organized by the Florida State University College of Music (Tallahassee FL, 2017), the Women in Music Festival (Rochester NY, 2017 & 2014), and the National University of Singapore Arts Festival (Singapore, 2012).

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Jon Lin studied at the Eastman School of Music, where she graduated with highest distinction as a double major in composition and music theory, and also a recipient of numerous scholarships, including the prestigious Presser Scholar Award and the National Arts Council of Singapore Arts Scholarship.  She also received composition awards such as the Wayne Brewster Barlow Award, Louis Lane Award, and the Bernard Rogers Memorial Prize.  Jon Lin is a member of the national honor music society Pi Kappa Lambda in the United States, the current treasurer of the Composers Society of Singapore (CSS), as well as a member of the Composers and Authors Society of Singapore (COMPASS).

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Her teachers in composition include composers Oliver Schneller, Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, Robert Morris, David Liptak, and Robert Casteels, and she has participated in composition masterclasses with Moritz Eggert and Louis Karchin.  In Eastman, she also studied piano performance under the tutelage of classical/jazz pianist and pedagogue Tony Caramia, and has also received instruction from Vincent Lenti, piano professor at the Eastman School of Music. Apart from being a pianist, she is also an erhu player, and has obtained a performance diploma from the Central Conservatory of Music of China.  In addition, Jon Lin has also taken the effort to venture into alternative styles of music, including traditional Nanyin music, various subgenres of traditional Chinese opera, and has collaborated with Flame of the Forest, a contemporary Northern Indian music trio.


Jon Lin was also invited to present her paper A Collapse of Musical Categories? : A Closer Look at Ethnic Chinese Music within the Chinese Conservatory Tradition Today at the Composition in Asia International Symposium and Festival held in the University of Florida (2015).  Her recent research interests include analytical approaches to timbre-based works, as well as the music of Helmut Lachenmann.  Prior to pursuing her degree in music, Jon Lin obtained a B.A. (Hons) in philosophy from the National University of Singapore.

570 295 8960 I am a composer/multi-instrumentalist/ethnomusicologist.  While having a background in jazz( and an extensive performance career with the likes of , Doug Munroe, Anders Griffin, Loren Stillman,Frank Lowe..), I have recorded much music on my own with minus bluff, garuda, and curious thumb.  For many years I have been part of the anti-folk music scene performing with dufus, Seth Faergoalzia, Only Son, Stiplicon, Toby Goodshank, Steven Mertens, Kimya Dawson, Jeff Lewis, Anders Griffen, Purple Organ, Rick Snell, John Ludington, Abigail Anne, The Blank Tapes, Matt McCluer, the list goes on and on.  While living in Asia I have also worked with many musicians in the contemporary music field.  Most of the music I am working on now is solo piano and related to experiences I have as an ethnomusicologist in Taiwan.  I am ultimately interested in the ordinary experiences of peoples' lives, as nothing is ordinary.  Music has the power to propel the imagination, and it is through this medium that I hope to connect to my fellow humans and share our collective humanity.  I have also been making short ethnographic films to accompany my music.

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