Yuan Qi
Yuan Qi joined the Utah Symphony|Utah Opera as Associate Principal Viola in September of 2020. Prior to joining the USUO, Ms. Qi was the Assistant Principal Viola of the Delaware Symphony and a fellow at the New World Symphony, serving as principal viola under the batons of Michael Tilson Thomas and others. She has also made regular appearance with the Philadelphia Orchestra and performed with the New York Philharmonic as a Global Academy Zarin Metha Fellow. As an orchestral musician, Ms. Qi is privileged to have performed with some world-renowned conductors include Alan Gilbert, Marin Alsop, Seiji Ozawa, Valery Gergiev, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and others.
With the passion of chamber music, Ms. Qi was a former founding member of JANA quartet under the tutelage of Tokyo String Quartet, who made frequent appearances throughout cities in China and Japan. The series of performances was recognized and highly praised by local TVs and newspapers. Yuan was selected to participate in the ARD International Music Competition Munich in 2012 with JANA quartet. Ms. Qi is also a founding member Duet Amici, a first prize winning string duo, and performed at Carnegie Hall as a prize winner.
As a soloist, Yuan is a 2nd prize winner of the Hugo Kauder Competition for Viola 2015. Ms. Qi is a dedicated performer whose passionate artistry has been heard and embraced by many music festivals including Seiji Ozawa Music Academy, serving as co-principal viola (Orchestra 2009, 2011, 2012), Seiji Ozawa International Chamber Music Festival in Okushiga Japan (2011, 2012), Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival (2013), Norfolk Chamber Music Chamber Music Festival (2014, 2015), Music Academy of the West, principal viola (2017).
Ms. Qi holds a graduate performance diploma from Peabody Institute where she studied with the Choong-Jin(C.J.)Chang , a master’s degree from Yale School of Music as a student of Ettore Causa and a Bachelor’s degree from Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing under the instruction of Changhai Wang. Yuan was a first prize winner for an amateur cooking competition, she enjoys spending her spare time cooking and reading.