Season Highlights Include:
New residency at Xinghai Concert Hall in Guangzhou, featuring Tianjin Juilliard Orchestra, Tianjin Juilliard Ensemble, and QingXin Ensemble
Expanded City Sounds series at Tianjin Concert Hall, showcasing the Tianjin Juilliard Orchestra, as well as recitals by faculty, students and alumni
New collaboration at the National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) in Beijing next spring
Pre-College presents major concerts featuring the Pre-College Orchestra, Youth Strings, and Chamber Winds
Vocal Institute's Liederabend series expands to new venues, including the Shanghai Symphony Concert Hall and the Lang Lang Concert Hall
Juilliard String Quartet returns to Tianjin with new second violinist Leonard Fu; visiting faculty from New York present master classes and performances
Tickets on sale this August, with many events free to the public
TIANJIN, CHINA, July 31, 2025— Tianjin Juilliard announces its most expansive season to date — featuring more than 200 music performances on campus and across China, with a growing network of artistic partnerships extending beyond the school. This season offers a thoughtfully curated mix of celebrated repertoire and forward-looking programming, underscoring the school’s mission to deepen community engagement, foster cultural exchange, and champion the role of performance in music education.
From a major new residency at Guangzhou’s Xinghai Concert Hall to an expanded City Sounds series at Tianjin Concert Hall and appearances at international festivals, the 2025-26 season reflects a bold artistic vision: to shape the future of music through cross-disciplinary collaborations. Through trailblazing performances by students, faculty, alumni, and visiting artists, Tianjin Juilliard continues to redefine the role of the conservatory in the 21st century.
At The Tianjin Juilliard School, we believe in the power of artistic excellence to transcend borders and foster deeper understanding across cultures. This season, we are expanding our reach, bringing world-class performances to new audiences across China and beyond. With new performances at major venues including Tianjin Concert Hall, the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) in Beijing, Xinghai Concert Hall in Guangzhou, and Shanghai Symphony Hall, we are building meaningful connections and making Juilliard’s artistry more accessible than ever. As we continue growing a vibrant community of performers, educators, and audiences, we remain committed to ensuring that the transformative power of the arts reaches the broadest spectrum of society.
Wei He
SEASON OVERVIEW
Tianjin Juilliard Orchestra
Led by resident conductor and Director of Orchestral Studies Ken Lam, the Tianjin Juilliard Orchestra (TJO) presents eight concerts of exceptional variety, including Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7; Smetana’s Má Vlast; Ravel’s Bolero; Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5; and Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5. The orchestra will also perform film scores by Oscar®-winning composer John Williams, featuring music from international blockbusters including Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Guest conductors include:
- Chen Lin, director of conducting at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, and music director of the Chengdu Symphony Orchestra, who returns for the closing concert at Festival Connect closing concert, featuring Hindemith’s Concerto for Woodwinds, Harp and Orchestra, Mathis der Maler, and Ye Xiaogang’s Twilight in Tibet
- Jason Lai, principal conductor of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music’s Orchestral Institute, will make his Tianjin Juilliard debut with Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8
Two graduate school concerto competition winners will perform concertos of their choice. Following last season’s success, Tianjin Juilliard will continue to present pre-concert talks by faculty, conductor and composer, Leyou Wang.
In March 2026, the Tianjin Juilliard Orchestra makes its debut at Xinghai Concert Hall presenting a powerful program featuring Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No. 3, Strauss’s Four Last Songs with soprano Norah Amsellem, and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5.
Tianjin Juilliard Ensemble
The Tianjin Juilliard Ensemble (TJE)— the school’s mixed-instrument faculty ensemble— presents bold, innovative programming that spans classical to modern, showcasing the faculty’s exceptional ensemble playing and interpretive depth. This season includes:
- Opening Festival Connect 2026
- A special collaboration with musicians from the National Centre for the Performing Arts Orchestra (NCPAO) at the NCPA May Festival in Beijing
- Beethoven's Septet, Brahms’s Clarinet Quintet, Bartok’s Contrasts, and adventurous works featuring mixed instrumentations by Takemitsu, Hindemith and Ye Xiaogang
Festival Connect 2026
Now led by Niccolo Athens, Festival Connect enters its fifth season spotlighting German composer Paul Hindemith and Chinese composer Ye Xiaogang. Hindemith’s enormous, diverse body of work, neither atonal nor Neo-Classical but always brimming over with substance and deep musical integrity, qualifies him as a major figure of 20th century music. This thematic focus explores the lineage connecting the two composers through Ye’s teacher Samuel Adler. The festival features performances, lectures, and interactive sessions celebrating the intertwined legacies of these visionary composers. Highlights include:
- Hindemith’s iconic works, Mathis der Maler and Kammermusik No.3
- Ye Xiaogang’s Twilight in Tibet and Basong Cuo
- Works by Chinese composer Tan Xiaolin, a student of Hindemith at Yale
Tianjin Juilliard at Xinghai Concert Hall’s Spring Music Festival
In just five years, the school has cultivated a dynamic international community of artists, educators, students, and audiences through festivals, symposiums, performances, master classes, and public programs. Building on this momentum, Tianjin Juilliard will collaborate with one of China’s top performing arts venues, Xinghai Concert Hall, to launch a week-long residency in Guangzhou, presenting a series of orchestral and chamber performances, master classes, and community engagement programs in March. The residency reaffirms the commitment of Tianjin Juilliard and Xinghai Concert Hall to artistic excellence and to forging meaningful community connections across China and beyond. In collaboration with this premier performing arts venue in China, the initiative brings Juilliard’s mission to life through immersion in Guangzhou’s vibrant arts scene.
Shanghai Quartet
Over the past four decades, the Shanghai Quartet’s elegant style, impressive technique, and emotional breadth has allowed the group to move seamlessly among masterpieces of Western music, traditional Chinese folk music, and cutting-edge contemporary works. The Quartet will embark on a major U.S. tour during the 2025-26 season, with performances at prestigious venues including the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and Jordan Hall at the New England Conservatory, as well as a three-day residency at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. This season, the Quartet continues to shape chamber music at Tianjin Juilliard through the following highlights:
- A featured concert at the Tianjin Juilliard Concert Hall, performing signature repertoire by Haydn, Tan Dun, and Dvořák
- Collaborations with the Tianjin Juilliard Ensemble in Tianjin and Guangzhou
One Juilliard: New York & Tianjin
Visiting faculty from Juilliard in New York will hold week-long residencies at Tianjin Juilliard, providing students with important learning opportunities and musical experiences by performing side-by-side. This November, the Juilliard String Quartet returns to Tianjin with new second violinist and Juilliard alum Leonard Fu (Artist Diploma ’23). Visiting faculty Hillary Simms and William Short will give performances, master classes and workshops at Tianjin Juilliard in the fall and spring respectively. Tianjin Juilliard faculty Lee Allen, Natalia Katyukova, Sergey Tyuteykin, and June Hahn also share their music making on Juilliard’s New York stages, building creative connections across campuses. On February 13, Tianjin Juilliard and Juilliard faculty will present a joint recital as part of the Daniel Saidenberg Faculty Recital Series in New York. Conductor Ken Lam returns to conduct the Juilliard Orchestra this season.
Faculty Recital Series
Tianjin Juilliard faculty are extraordinary pedagogues and critically acclaimed performers enjoying international careers as soloists, chamber musicians, and members of top orchestras across three continents. In this season, they will share their dazzling virtuosity and artistry in eight recitals on various stages across Tianjin.
QingXin Ensemble
Formed in 2021 by Tianjin and New York alumni, the QingXin Ensemble (QXE) celebrates its fifth anniversary this season, with an exciting lineup of performances across China. Highlights include appearances in the City Sounds series at the Tianjin Concert Hall, joint programs with the Vocal Institute, the opening concert of Festival Connect, and the Ensemble’s debut at Xinghai Concert Hall in Guangzhou.
City Sounds Series
This concert series at Tianjin Concert Hall will kick off in September with a Liederabend concert, From Folk Songs to Art Songs presented by Tianjin Juilliard’s Vocal Institute. City Sounds features Tianjin Juilliard’s faculty, students, alumni and the Tianjin Juilliard Orchestra. From solo recitals to ensemble performances, downtown audiences will experience the full range of Tianjin Juilliard’s musical excellence and artistry.
Pre-College
The Tianjin Juilliard Pre-College offers a comprehensive, conservatory-style music program held on Saturdays for students ages 8 to 18 who demonstrate the talent, potential, and dedication to pursue advanced musical study in China and around the world. This season, the Pre-College Orchestra, conducted by Kin Szeto; the Youth String Ensemble for students aged 8–13, conducted by Jiajing Lai; and Chamber Winds, conducted by He Sun, will each present two concerts. The Pre-College Choruses, also led by Jiajing Lai, and Chamber Music Intensive (CMI) program will continue to offer performances.
Public Education
Tianjin Juilliard's Public Education is the bridge connecting The Juilliard School's world-class music education to the Chinese public through a variety of programs for music learners of all ages and levels. On Sundays, the Music Development Program offers a comprehensive curriculum for students ages 3 to 18 at all music levels and performances. Public Education also offers music-themed summer and winter camps for students ages 6 to 16. The Music Development Program students will present two concerts in January and June 2026.
Continuing Education
Continuing Education offers a wide range of programs for professional musicians and teachers, including professional development workshops such as teacher training courses for early years, primary, and secondary music teachers across China, and resources to support their career development.
The Tianjin Juilliard Vocal Institute is a unique ecosystem where practitioners, students, and aficionados of the vocal arts can learn, appreciate and advance the art form in China. Now in its fourth year, the Vocal Institute provides customized training with leading experts of the vocal field and presents interdisciplinary performances introducing both mainstream and rarely heard repertoire to Chinese audiences. These performances and programs reflect the goals of the Vocal Institute: to inspire, educate, and build a vibrant vocal arts community in China and beyond. Season highlights include:
- A double bill of Bach’s Coffee Cantata and Menotti’s chamber opera The Telephone
- Hansel and Gretel - A Family Show.
- A Liederabend performance at the Lang Lang Concert Hall, Xinghai Conservatory of Music featuring Brahms’ Liebeslieder Walzer
- The British Soundscape at the Shanghai Symphony Concert Hall, with music by Frank Bridge, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Benjamin Britten
- Baroque arias and Britten’s Les Illuminations with the QingXin Ensemble
Tickets to 2025-26 events go on sale in late August. The Tianjin Juilliard performance calendar on the website has the latest updates for in-person and livestreamed performances.
Juilliard’s campus in New York has announced its 2025-26 season which features exchanges between New York and Tianjin faculty as well. Information about Juilliard’s performances in New York is available here.
Programs, dates, and artists subject to change.
About The Tianjin Juilliard School
For more than a century, The Juilliard School has been committed to providing the highest caliber of artistic education to gifted musicians from around the world, so that they may achieve their fullest potential as artists, leaders, and global citizens. As the branch campus of The Juilliard School, The Tianjin Juilliard School (TJS) is a cultural institution that brings Juilliard’s artistic and educational mission to a wider global audience. Tianjin Juilliard is the first performing arts institution in China to confer a U.S.-accredited Master of Music (MM) degree from the Juilliard School. The school also comprises a Saturday Pre-College for students ages 8-18; public education programs for music learners of all ages and levels; continuing education programs for professional musicians and music teachers; and public performances.
tianjinjuilliard.edu.cn
@tianjinjuilliardschool
Photos by: Twan Vision, courtesy of The Tianjin Juilliard School