Liwei Qin

Born in Shanghai in 1976, Liwei Qin moved to Australia in 1989 where he studied with Nelson Cooke at Melbourne University. In 1995 he received a scholarship to study with Ralph Kirshbaum at the RNCM in Manchester, U.K. During his studies Mr. Qin won numerous prizes including the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s 1993 Young Performer of the Year, the First Prize in the Adam International Cello Competition in 1997, a Special Distinction in the Rostropovich International Cello Competition, and the Gold Medal in the Royal Overseas League Competition. Described by Paul Cutts in The Strad as “the most gifted young cellist I have heard,” Liwei Qin won the Silver Medal in the 1998 Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow. Mr. Qin is currently a scholar-in-residence at the RNCM.

Mr. Qin has performed extensively throughout Asia, Australia and Europe. As a concerto soloist he has performed with the Melbourne, Sydney, Tasmanian, New Zealand, BBC Scottish, and Singapore symphony orchestras, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Welsh National Opera Orchestra, Sinfonia 21, State Symphony Orchestra of Russia, Warsaw Sinfonia, and the National Symphony and National Radio orchestras of China. He has worked with many conductors including Alexander Lazarev, Valery Polinsky, Lord Menuhin, Simone Young, Jorge Mester, Martyn Brabbins and Vernon Handley.

Mr. Qin has given recitals and broadcasts extensively throughout Australia, Asia the U.K. including recordings for ABC Classics, Channel Classics, BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM. In 1997 he recorded his first CD featuring the Dvorák Cello Concerto and Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations for the ABC Classics label with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. In the summer of 2000, he will give a solo recital, and take part in an Australian Gala Evening, both at Wigmore Hall in London. He will perform the Elgar Concerto with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, and concertos with the Melbourne Symphony, Western Australian Symphony and Australian Chamber orchestras.

Mr. Qin plays a Vincenzo Panormo cello circa 1791 belonging to Ralph Kirshbaum.