Claire Chan, Violin

Ching Chun Juhl, Viola

Ling Cao, Cello

Claire Chan's award-winning chamber music groups include the Essex Quartet, the Beijing String Quartet and Chamber Players and the Kneisel Trio. Her solo and chamber performances have been broadcast on ABC and NBC television and Beijing Central TV as well as on radio stations WNYC, WQXR and NPR. She has performed in the Forbidden City, Beijing Concert Hall, and Lincoln Center.

 Dr. Chan earned a full scholarship from the Juilliard School where she completed both her M.M. and D.M.A. degrees. She received an undergraduate degree in Neuroscience from Brown University.

 She taught at the Juilliard School as an assistant to Professor Joseph Fuchs and the Juilliard String Quartet. She also taught at the Beijing Central Conservatory and Capital Normal University. She currently teaches at the Third Street Music School Settlement in New York City.

 Claire Chan has concertized throughout the U.S. and China. Tom Strini of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote, "Chan got it exactly: It came out like a love song sung through a lump in the throat, and it was music to bring tears to the eyes." Lyman Leathers of the Delaware Gazette wrote, she has "...a wonderfully warm and relaxed sound with an often robust intensity."

Ching Chen Juhl has performed throughout North America, Brazil, France, Switzerland, Hong Kong, and China in solo recitals, chamber ensembles and major orchestras. Ching has performed as a soloist with the symphony orchestras of the Phoenix, Millennium Chamber, the Indianapolis Chamber, the Terre Haute, and the National Repertory. She has won numerous awards including a $10,000 prize at the Giuranna International Viola Competition, Outstanding Musical Performance Certificate, the Herriman Music Scholarship, and the Starr Fellowship. She also performed as a member of the Phoenix Symphony for seven years.

 Pursuing her passion for chamber music, Ching founded the Ching Ching Ensemble in 1993. She produced, directed and performed multi-media chamber music concerts in the United States and China. She has also performed chamber music at the Mainly Mozart, Grand Teton, Colorado, Spoleto, Encore School for Strings and Evian International Music Festivals.

 Born in China, Ching came to the United States in 1985 after graduating from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. She received a full scholarship from Indiana University where she earned a Master of Music Degree. Her major teachers were Kim Kashkashian, Csaba Erdelyi, Xi-Di Shen, and Yu-Shen Wu. Currently, she teaches at the Bloomingdale School of Music, performs with and manages the Jade String Trio.

"Ling Cao is a very talented, accomplished cellist ... a seasoned performer ... in full command of her instrument and at one with the music; ... technically effortless, tonally warm ... clearly very musical." From a review by Edith Eisler of Ling's New York debut recital at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.

Ling Cao began her solo career in China where she won the China National Solo Competition and began recording for China Records at the age of seventeen. She participated in the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition and went on to win the Artists International Award in New York.

 Ling was a member of the renowned Shanghai Ladies String Quartet and taught at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. She also performed as soloist and principal cellist of Tiedaobing Orchestra. She authored "The Art of Cello Fingerings," published by the Shanghai Conservatory Music Press. She currently teaches at the music department of St. Ann's School.

 Ling holds Master's Degrees from both the Manhattan School of Music and the Shanghai Conservatory of Music as well as a Professional Studies Certificate from the Manhattan School of Music. She studied with David Geber, Zara Nelsova, Mstislav Rostropovich in master class, Situ Shiwen, Qian Yishan and Lin Yingrong.