Shanghai Quartet

The Shanghai Quartet is a string quartet that formed in 1983. The quartet is made up of: first violinist Weigang Li, second violinist Angelo Xiang Yu, violist Honggang Li, and cellist Nicholas Tzavaras. On November 20, 2020 the ensemble announced the newest member, Angelo Xiang Yu.^[1] The Shanghai Quartet accepted the resignation of former second violinist Yi-Wen Jiang on March 17, 2020.^[2] The group's tours have included North America, South America, Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe. Among their performances, the Shanghai Quartet has developed a long list of performance collaborators including Yo-Yo Ma, David Soyer, Eugenia Zukerman, Sharon Isbin, Ruth Laredo, Arnold Steinhardt, and Chanticleer.^[3]

The group was formed in 1983 at the Shanghai Conservatory in China.^[4] In 1984 the quartet was selected by the Ministry of Culture (China)^[5] to compete at the Portsmouth International Quartet Competition in England where they won 2nd prize.^[6] The group then left China in 1985 to study at Northern Illinois University with the Vermeer Quartet until 1987.^[6] The Shanghai Quartet made its New York debut in 1987 at Town Hall.^[7] In 1989 they became the quartet-in-residence at the University of Richmond.^[6] In 2003 the quartet became Distinguished Visiting Artists of the school's Modlin Center for the Arts, giving concerts during the Great Performances season from September to May.^[8] They then were established as artists-in-residency at the John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University in New Jersey where they are currently located.^[3] The four members are also visiting guest professors at the Shanghai Conservatory and Central Conservatory of Music in China where they share in master-classes what they have learned in America.^[5] In the fall of 2020, they became resident faculty members at The Tianjin Juilliard School.^[9] A documentary film by Hal Rifken, titled "Behind the Strings", was released in 2020, telling the adventuresome history of the musicians through their westward journeys out of the Cultural Revolution in China to their current lives on stage and at home in the US.^[10]

Weigang Li is a native of Shanghai and began studying the violin at age five under the instruction of his parents. He began formal music education at the Shanghai Conservatory when he was 14 years old. In 1981 he studied at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music through an exchange program with the Shanghai Conservatory. Upon finishing his studies in 1985, Weigang became an assistant violin professor at Shanghai. He then left China to study at Northern Illinois University. From 1987 to 1989, he studied at the Juilliard School and was a teaching assistant to the Juilliard String Quartet. Weigang has been the first violinist for the Shanghai Quartet since its inception.^[3]

Weigang has been a soloist with the Asian Youth Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. He appears in the film "From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China".^[3] Weigang currently is on the faculty at the Bard College Conservatory of Music, an Artist-in-Residence at Montclair State University's John J. Cali School Of Music, and resident faculty at The Tianjin Juilliard School.^[11][12]

Angelo Xiang Yu was born in Inner Mongolia China and grew up in Shanghai.^[13] His early musical training was with violinist Qing Zheng at the Shanghai Conservatory.^[14] His first major international award was First Prize in the 2010 Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition.^[15] He is the recipient of a 2019 Avery Fisher Career Grant and a 2019 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award.^[16] Yu received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees and an Artist Diploma from the New England Conservatory. His teachers include Donald Weilerstein and Miriam Fried.^[17] Mr. Yu was chosen to be a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s The Bowers Program, joining in the fall of 2018.^[18]

Honggang Li began his musical studies playing the violin like his brother Weigang, and formed the quartet with him He first attended the Beijing Conservatory and then the Shanghai Conservatory where he became a faculty member in 1984. Later in the United States, he became a teaching assistant at the Juilliard School in New York City.^[3] Honggang was the original first violinist for the Shanghai Quartet and later switched to second violin. When violist Zheng Wang left the group they had trouble finding a replacement violist, and ^[6] upon accepting Yi-Wen Jiang, who the Li brothers had already known,^[6] as the second violinist, Honggang learned to play the viola in order to complete the quartet.^[19]

Honggang has been a soloist with the Shanghai Philharmonic and the Shanghai Conservatory Orchestra. In 1987 he was given a prize at the Premio Paolo Borciani Competition in Italy by Elisa Pegreffi.^[3]

Nicholas Tzavaras is the only American member of the Shanghai Quartet, having grown up in Harlem in New York City. He studied cello at the New England Conservatory and at the State University of New York Stony Brook. As a graduate student, he began a cello program for the Opus 118 Music Center in East Harlem. He is now an advisory board member for the program. Nicholas was previously on the faculty at the University of Richmond and is currently the string department coordinator and cello professor at Montclair State University. He became the cellist for the Shanghai Quartet in 2000 when past cellist James Wilson left the ensemble.^[3]

Nicholas has toured with "Musicians from Marlboro" and Madonna. He has made appearances on MTV, VH1, David Letterman, and at the White House to perform for President Bill Clinton. He has recorded for labels including Delos, BIS Records, Camerata, and New Albion. He has appeared in the Academy Award nominated documentary "Small Wonders" and in the major motion picture "Music of the Heart" with Meryl Streep.^[3]

Xing-Hua Ma, cellist 1983-1985.^[6] Zheng Wang, violist 1983-1994.^[19] Käthe Jarka, cellist 1986-1990.^[6] James Wilson, cellist 1990-2000.^[3] Yi-Wen Jiang, violinist 1994-2020.^[20]

• http://www.shanghaiquartet.com/