Shanghai Quartet
with Nicholas Tzavaras, cello
JOSEPH HAYDN String Quartet in G minor
ZHOU LONG Chinese Folk Songs
FRANZ SCHUBERT String Quintet
Long-time favorites of Brevard audiences, the Shanghai Quartet returns this season with a program of classical elegance and global color.
Haydn’s String Quartet in G minor and Zhou Long’s Chinese Folk Songs open the evening. Former Shanghai Quartet cellist and BMC’s own Nicholas Tzavaras joins the ensemble for Schubert’s sublime String Quintet, bringing the concert to a stirring close.
Weigang Li
Violin
Weigang Li is a founding member and first violinist of the world-renowned Shanghai Quartet since 1983. Now in its 38th season, the Shanghai Quartet has performed nearly 3,000 concerts in 35 countries and recorded over 30 albums, including a highly acclaimed 7-disc set of complete Beethoven string quartets.
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Born into a family of well-known musicians in Shanghai, Weigang Li began studying the violin with his parents when he was 5 and went on to attend the Shanghai Conservatory Middle School at age 14. Three years later, in 1981, he was selected to go to study for one year at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music through the first cultural exchange program between the sister cities of Shanghai and San Francisco. In 1985, upon graduating from the Shanghai Conservatory, Weigang Li left China to continue his studies at Northern Illinois University and later studied and taught at The Juilliard School. Besides his parents, other important teachers have included Shmuel Ashkenasi, Tan Shu-Chen, Robert Mann and Isadore Tinkleman.
Mr. Li was featured in the 1980 Oscar winning documentary film From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China. He made his solo debut at 17 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and has appeared as soloist with the Shanghai Symphony, China Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony and Asian Youth Orchestra.
Weigang Li is a founding member and first violinist of the world-renowned Shanghai Quartet since 1983. Now in its 38th season, the Shanghai Quartet has performed nearly 3,000 concerts in 35 countries and recorded over 30 albums, including a highly acclaimed 7-disc set of complete Beethoven string quartets.
Weigang Li is currently a violin professor at The Tianjin Juilliard School, an Artist-in-Residence at Montclair State University in New Jersey and also a violin professor at Bard College Conservatory of Music. He also holds the title of guest concertmaster of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and guest professor at both the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing.
Angelo Xiang Yu
Violin
Violinist Angelo Xiang Yu, recipient of both a 2019 Avery Fisher Career Grant and a 2019 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award, as well as First Prize in the 2010 Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition, has won consistent critical acclaim and enthusiastic audience response worldwide for his astonishing technique and exceptional musical maturity.
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Violinist Angelo Xiang Yu, recipient of both a 2019 Avery Fisher Career Grant and a 2019 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award, as well as First Prize in the 2010 Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition, has won consistent critical acclaim and enthusiastic audience response worldwide for his astonishing technique and exceptional musical maturity.
In North America, Mr. Yu recently appeared as a soloist with a number of major orchestras including the San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Toronto, Vancouver, Houston, Colorado, North Carolina, San Antonio, Puerto Rico, and Charlotte Symphonies, as well as the Rochester and Calgary Philharmonic among others. Internationally, he has appeared with the New Zealand Symphony, Shanghai Philharmonic, Auckland Philharmonia, Norwegian Radio Symphony, Munich Chamber Orchestra and the Oslo Philharmonic.
An active recitalist and chamber musician, he has performed in a number of world-renowned venues such as the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Louvre in Paris, National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, Victoria Theater in Singapore, Shanghai Symphony Hall, Oslo Opera House, Auckland Town Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Jordan Hall and Symphony Hall in Boston. In March 2017, Mr. Yu was chosen to be a member of the prestigious Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s The Bowers Program (formerly CMS Two).
Mr. Yu is also a frequent guest at major summer music festivals including the Ravinia, Aspen, Grant Park, Chamber Music Northwest, as well as at the Verbier and Bergen Festivals in Europe. He also serves as artist faculty at Music @ Menlo and the Sarasota Music Festival.
Mr. Yu joined the faculty at the New England Conservatory Preparatory in 2015, and also serves as a guest faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In the fall of 2020, he became the newest member of the Shanghai Quartet. He serves as an Artist-in-Residence at the John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University and as a resident faculty member at The Tianjin Juilliard School.
Born in Inner Mongolia China, Angelo Xiang Yu moved to Shanghai at the age of 11 and received his early training from violinist Qing Zheng at the Shanghai Conservatory. He earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees as well as the prestigious Artist Diploma at the New England Conservatory where he was a student of Donald Weilerstein and Miriam Fried, and served as Mr. Weilerstein’s teaching assistant.
Mr. Yu currently performs on the 1715 “Joachim” Stradivarius violin, generously on loan from the Nippon Music Foundation.
Honggang Li
Viola
Honggang Li is a founding member of the Shanghai Quartet, which is now in its 38th season and has performed nearly 3,000 concerts in 35 countries and recorded over 30 albums.
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Honggang Li is a founding member of the Shanghai Quartet, which is now in its 38th season and has performed nearly 3,000 concerts in 35 countries and recorded over 30 albums.
Mr. Li began studying the violin with his parents at age seven. When the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing reopened in 1977 after the Cultural Revolution, Mr. Li was selected to attend from a group of over five hundred applicants. Among his teachers were Li-Na Yu and Shmuel Ashkenasi.
He co-founded the Shanghai Quartet with his brother while studying at the Shanghai Conservatory. The ensemble soon became the first Chinese quartet to win a major international chamber music competition (the London International). Mr. Li received a master’s degree from North Illinois University and served as a teaching assistant at The Juilliard School in New York. In 1987, he won the special prize (a 1757 DeCable violin) given by Elisa Pegreffi of the Quartetto Italiano at the First Paolo Borciani International Quartet Competition in Italy.
Mr. Li started his teaching career at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in 1984. He is currently an Artist-in-Residence and faculty member at the Montclair State University. He also is a resident faculty member at the recently opened Tianjin Juilliard School and viola professor at the Bard Conservatory. He has been a guest professor of both the Shanghai and Beijing’s Central Conservatory for the past two decades. Mr. Li has also been the guest principal violist of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra since 2009.
Sihao He
Cello
Cellist Sihao first came into international prominence in 2008 as a 14-year-old cellist winning first prize at the International Antonio Janigro Cello Competition in Croatia.
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Cellist Sihao He first came into international prominence in 2008 as a 14-year-old cellist winning first prize at the International Antonio Janigro Cello Competition in Croatia. Later that same year, he won the National Cello Competition in China. He is also the Grand Prize winner of the prestigious 3rd Gaspar Cassadó International Cello Competition in Japan, a laureate of the Queen Elizabeth International Cello Competition International and Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians. In 2019, he won 3rd prize in Munich’s ARD International Music Competition.
He has appeared in numerous concerts both as a soloist with leading orchestras and in recitals. After winning the Grand Prize at the 3rd Gaspar Cassado Competition, he performed a recital tour in Japan and China. As a soloist, He has performed with many leading orchestras including the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Munich Radio Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Brussels Philharmonic, Münchener Kammerorchester, Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie, Orquestra Sinfônica de Piracicaba in Brazil, and the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra in China.
As a chamber musician, he has appeared at Music@Menlo, Bravo!Vail, Meadowmount School of Music and Rome Chamber Music Festival. As a member of the Galvin Cello Quartet, he won the 2022 Victor Elmaleh Competition and joined the Concert Artists Guild roster. Before coming to the US, his string quartet, Simply Quartet, won first prize at the Haydn Invitational Chamber Music Competition in Shanghai, China and was awarded “The Most Promising Young String Quartet” at the 4th Beijing International Chamber Music Competition. In March 2020, He was chosen to be a member of the prestigious Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Bowers Program (formerly CMS Two).
Born in Shanghai, China, He holds a bachelor’s degree from the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University where he studied with Hans Jørgen Jensen and Julie Albers, and holds a master’s degree from the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University. He is currently attending the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University for his D.M.A. degree under the tutelage of Hans Jørgen Jensen. He served as a faculty member at the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University and is currently a resident faculty at the Tianjin Juilliard School.
Nicholas Tzavaras
Cello
A native of East Harlem, cellist Nicholas Tzavaras has enjoyed a distinguished career as a chamber musician, soloist, and educator for nearly three decades. From...
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A native of East Harlem, cellist Nicholas Tzavaras has enjoyed a distinguished career as a chamber musician, soloist, and educator for nearly three decades. From 2000 to 2024, he served as the cellist of the internationally acclaimed Shanghai Quartet, with whom he performed in more than 35 countries and at major venues including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Wigmore Hall, and the Seoul Arts Center. Under his tenure, the quartet held long-standing residencies at Montclair State University and The Tianjin Juilliard School, and became known for championing both classical masterworks and contemporary commissions. Tzavaras has recorded more than 28 albums on the Naxos, Delos, Decca, BIS, Centaur, Camerata, and New Albion labels. He also served as guest principal cellist with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra from 2009 to 2024.
Tzavaras began his musical studies at age two on the violin with his mother, Roberta Guaspari—the pioneering educator whose work was chronicled in the Academy Award–nominated documentary Small Wonders and portrayed by Meryl Streep in the film Music of the Heart. He switched to the cello at age seven and later attended the Bronx High School of Science before earning degrees from the New England Conservatory and SUNY Stony Brook. Tzavaras also holds an MBA from Montclair State University.
A passionate and sought-after educator, Tzavaras has held faculty appointments and leadership positions at The Tianjin Juilliard School, Montclair State University, the Longy School of Music, and the University of Richmond. He currently serves as Senior Director of Artistic Planning & Educational Programs at the Brevard Music Center and joined the faculty of Brevard College in the fall of 2025. Tzavaras makes his home in Asheville, North Carolina, with his wife, Sophia, and their three children.