Yabing Tan

Violinist Yabing Tan, born 1990 in Hunan Province, China, has performed as a soloist throughout China, the United States, Canada, and Europe. She started playing violin at the age of six in her native Guangdong Province. She was soon discovered by the legendary Chinese pedagogue Prof. Lin Yaoji, of Beijing’s Central Conservatory of Music, enrolling after two years in the middle school of the Central Conservatory.

Yabing was chosen by the Central Conservatory for the school's 2006 DVD production of Jeno Hubay's Carmen Fantasy, and she was selected to represent the Central Conservatory in the Morningside Musical Bridge International Festival, in Calgary, Canada. She has also attended the Great Wall International Music Academy in Beijing as a scholarship recipient every summer since 2006.

Yabing was awarded a Starling Scholarship to attend the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music. She has been selected to play in masterclasses led by David Kim, Midori Goto, Vadim Repin, Viviane Hagner, and Yair Kless, among many others. In 2009, Ms. Tan attended the International Summer Academy of Mozarteum University of Salzburg and in Cervo, Italy. That same year, she was awarded the First Prize of the Central Conservatory of Music’s “Chausson Poeme” Competition, and performed with CCM concert orchestra. Yabing is also the youngest concertmaster of CCM Philharmonia. Ms. Tan was selected as one of the six finalists in the 3rd China International Violin Competition in 2011.

After completing her Bachelor of Music degree, Ms. Tan moved on to her master’s as a teaching assistant under University of Cincinnati professor Kurt Sassmannshaus. In 2012, Ms. Tan was asked to perform the Paganini Caprices for solo violin in collaboration with the Cincinnati Ballet for their “Kaplan New Works Series” – the program later touring to New York’s Joyce Theater, where her performance received wide praise. She released her first solo album, The Great Wall Classic, the same year.

Recently, Ms. Tan was selected to compete in the Premio Paganini International Violin Competition in Genoa Italy, winning the special prize of “The Best Interpretation of Paganini Caprices.” She was also selected as a semifinalist in this year’s Michael Hill International Violin Competition in New Zealand. Yabing Tan is currently Starling Fellow, and a DMA student at the USC Thornton School of Music, while studying with the noted violinist, Midori Goto.