Chinese-Canadian violinist MingHuan Xu is a multi-faceted performer with unique communicative abilities. She has delighted audiences with her passion, incredible technique, sensitivity and charisma. Her versatility allows her to perform an eclectic mix of musical styles ranging from the standard works to avant-garde contemporary repertoire. She has performed extensively as a concerto soloist, duo-recitalist and chamber musician, all across China, Europe, North America and South America.

MingHuan’s latest recital and chamber music performances have brought her to Carnegie-Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Hall, Symphony Space and the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC. She has also appeared at the Colours of Music Festival, the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society, the Mammoth Lakes Music Festival, the SoundaXis Festival, the Triada Music Festival, the X-Avant Festival, and other concert series all over North America. She has worked with such chamber musicians as Colin Carr, Eugene Drucker, Ilya Kaler, Ani Kavafian, Meng-Chieh Liu, and the St. Petersburg String Quartet. She also tours extensively as a part of Duo Diorama with her husband, pianist Winston Choi, having recently completed a very successful tour of Argentina and Brazil. Her numerous performances have included live radio broadcasts on National Public Radio (NPR) and CBC Radio. Her Carnegie Hall debut was featured on Voice of America, a weekly magazine show viewed by millions of people in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

At the age of 18, she made her New York debut as a soloist with the New York Youth Symphony Orchestra, and since then has performed with orchestras such as the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra, the Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra, the Manchester Symphony Orchestra, the Midland-Odessa Symphony Orchestra, the Lakeshore Symphony Orchestra, the Northshore Chamber Orchestra and the Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra.

As a champion of contemporary music MingHuan plays both the works of established masters and emerging young composers. In just the last three years, she has premiered over 20 works by composers such as Marcos Balter, George Flynn, Felipe Lara, M. William Karlins, Daniel Weymouth, Amy Williams, Jay Alan Yim, and Mischa Zupko. She is actively involved with multi-disciplinary projects, which also include collaborations with electronic media.

At the age of six, MingHuan made her recital debut in Beijing and at the age of eleven, she won the 1st Prize at the Beijing Young Artists Competition. Her many competition successes also include being winner of Artists International Presentations Auditions, grand prize winner of the International Young Artist Competition of Midland-Odessa, and finalist of the Concert Artist Guild competition in New York.

MingHuan’s studies were at the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music, the Interlochen Arts Academy, Northwestern University and Stony Brook University. Her principal teachers were Julia Bushkova, Victor Danchenko, Almita Vamos, Roland Vamos, Pamela Frank, Ani Kavafian, and Phil Setzer. Besides being a seasoned performer, she is also an accomplished and inspiring teacher, currently Assistant Professor of Violin at Grand Valley State University. MingHuan plays on a 1758 Nicolas Gagliano violin.