About

Qin Qian started learning the erhu and accordion from her father at the age of eight. Ms. Qin entered the Guangxi Art College in Nanning at 16, majoring in erhu performance. She studied the erhu, or Chinese violin, with Professor Huang Qidu and erhu master Zhang Yuming. After she graduated, she worked as an erhu performer and teacher. In 1986, she started working as a reporter, music program editor and program host for the Nanning city radio station. In the last role, she interviewed many famous musicians in China.

Ms. Qin also plays the piano, monochord, and ruan (a string instrument that resembles a banjo. She likes to write and has authored two books, “My Dreams Soar With Music (2003) and “A Musical Journey in America” (2005).

In 2003, she gave a successful erhu and monochord concert in Nanning in which she was accompanied by the Guangxi Symphony Orchestra. In 2005, her first CD, “A Romantic Musical Journey,” was released. It featured her work on the erhu and monochord,, and she received wide recognition from music lovers in China.

In 2005, Ms. Qin immigrated to the United States and started promoting traditional Chinese music. The next year, she started teaching erhu at the Ming De Chinese School in Radnor, Pa.

Her private students come from many different backgrounds and ethnic groups They range in age from 5 to 80. Teaching gives her tremendous satisfaction, and she often performs in concerts with her students. Her musical work has taken her to many places, including Australia, England and ​Curacao.

In 2008, Ms. Qin performed in the musical “The Mirror Effect,” where she played solo pieces on the erhu and monochord and others with a jazz band. In July 2008, she accompanied the musical group Siris, led by the American singer Michael Maley, in the song “God Bless Sichuan,” which was sung in Chinese and raised money for earthquake relief in Chuna. The video, on​Youku.com​, received more than 6 million views in six months, and was ranked number one in China that year. Her erhu playing gave the song a unique Chinese flavor and mood of sadness.

In 2009, Ms. Qin went to Australia and recorded eight songs with the guitarist Vincenzo Andreacchio. Five were traditional Italian tunes, expanding the erhu’s musical territory.

In 2010, she joined a band, the Obsoleets, to learn and play different varieties of American music. In addition, that same year, her student Arthur Zhang, then 15, performed successfully as the featured erhu soloist in a concert devoted to Chinese music.

The following year, she gave a successful concert in Philadelphia, “The Emotive Beauty of the Erhu, She was, accompanied by harpist Gloria Galante and pianistGloria Collins. In 2012, her student Zhang won first prize at the 2012 Princeton International Chinese Music Competition at Princeton University. Another of Ms. Qin’s students, Sophia Blystra, playing the monochord, won second prize, and Ms. Qin was named outstanding teacher.

In 2013, Ms. Qin started a program called ​“The Pentatonic Music of Yang Sheng Qigong,”. This is a simple, relaxing, and easy way to practice qigong, an exercise of the mind, body and spirit. She believes that enjoying music on the five-tone pentatonic scale and practicing qigong every day will provide many health benefits.

In 2014, her student Kelvin Wang, then 10, won first prize at the Princeton Chinese music competition and second prize at the First Philadelphia Regional Talent Show. In addition, she and American pianist Wu Di performed with the famous Arpeggio Jazz Orchestra at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. That concert featured classical music, country music, jazz, and Chinese music, sometimes fusing the differing styles. Later that year, with pianist Graeme Burgan, she held a concert, “When the Erhu Meets the Piano,” in Norristown, Pa. The concert was highly praised by music lovers

The next year, she held the “Double String and Five-Tone” concert at the Philadelphia Free Library. She played traditional Chinese and Western music with the erhu and introduced the relationship between musical therapy, using the pentatonic scale, and health. The therapy dates back 2,000 years, from the medical book “Huang Di Nei Jing” (“The Emperor’s Inner Canon”).

In 2017, Ms. Qin played the erhu with Danish cellist Steve Kramer and American pianist Lance Wiseman to premiere ”Mountain Stream,” a composition by Ms. Qin, at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. In addition, Wang, her student, won the gold medal in the “Super Baby” competition organized by China Central Television and others.

The following year, Ms. Qin participated in the Port City Music Festival in Wilmington, N.C., teaming with violinist Luigi Mazzocchi, cellist Stephen Framil, and pianist Daniel Lau in a concert of Chinese and Western music. With Russian violinist Sasha Ki, she also gave a special performance at the Mid-Autumn Evening Party at the University of Delaware. In addition, she participated in famous Chinese composer Wang Liping’s global stop in Philadelphia. Her performance of “A Windy, Rainy Evening by the Autumn Window,” with guzheng player Wang Junling, was well-received.

Also in 2018, the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News published a feature article, by Bethany Ao, entitled “Notes Of Old,” centering on Ms. Qin. The article explored the spread of the erhu and Chinese music in the United States over the years. In addition, her student Wang, visiting New York, won the gold medal in the “Teen’s Talent Show,” organized by American Chinese TV. Finally, Ms. Qin was a guest instructor and performer for an international music class at the world-famous Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.

There are no borders in music, and Qin Qian’s work has become a bridge for cultural interchange. She wishes more people would enjoy the erhu and learn to play it, and would like to see this traditional instrument become ever more popular in the United States.