Qi Xu
Email: me@qixumusic.com
Website: https://www.qixumusic.com
Education
The Juilliard School, D.M.A.
September 2017 - May 2022, New York, NY
Doctor of Musical Arts (D.M.A.) in Piano Performance
Studied piano performance with Yoheved Kaplinsky and Matti Raekallio
Recipient of the C.V. Starr Doctoral Fellowship
The Juilliard School, M.M.
September 2015 - May 2017, New York, NY
Master of Music (M.M.) in Piano Performance
Recipient of the Artzt Scholarship
University of Cambridge, Robinson College, Visiting Scholar
October 2014 - June 2015, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Columbia University’s Oxbridge Scholars Program in Mathematics, Mathematical Tripos Part IB
Studied piano performance with Christopher Elton at Royal Academy of Music in London
Columbia University, Columbia College, B.A.
September 2012 - May 2016, New York, NY
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Mathematics
Recipient of the Sou Chan Scholarship
John Jay Scholar
Dean’s List (2012 - 2013)
The Juilliard School, Joint Program
September 2012 - May 2017, New York, NY
Columbia-Juilliard Joint Program
Studied piano performance with Yoheved Kaplinsky
The Juilliard School, Pre-College
September 2009 - May 2012, New York, NY
Studied piano performance with Yoheved Kaplinsky
Attended Professional Performing Arts School (PPAS), the partner high school of the Juilliard Pre-College
Solo Music Experience
Pearl River-Kayserburg Artist
November 2022 - Present
International Telekom Beethoven Competition
December 2017, Bonn, Germany
PianoTexas International Academy
May 2017, Fort Worth, TX
Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition
April 2017, Tel Aviv, Israel
Music Academy of the West
2016, Santa Barbara, CA
Recipient of full scholarship
International Musical Artistry Goslar
2015, Goslar, Germany
International Chopin Piano Competition
2015, Warsaw, Poland
Pianofest in the Hamptons
2014, East Hampton, NY
Recipient of full scholarship
Solo Album Recording
November 2013, Warsaw, Poland
Recorded the first solo album under the sponsorship of Arte90
Program included:
Beethoven - Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op. 109
Chopin - Andante spianato et grande polonaise brillante in E-flat major, Op. 22
Stravinsky - Three Movements from Petrushka
Liszt - Réminiscences de Don Juan, S. 418
Cleveland International Piano Competition
2013, Cleveland, OH
Aspen Music Festival
2011, Aspen, CO
Recipient of full scholarship
Morocco International Piano Competition
March 2011, Casablanca/Rabat, Morocco
Recipient of the first prize and the orchestra prize
Was the youngest winner in the history of the competition
Leeds International Piano Competition
August 2009, Leeds, United Kingdom
Was the youngest contestant in the competition who advanced into the quarterfinal
Ettlingen International Piano Competition
August 2008, Ettlingen, Germany
Recipient of the second prize
Was the youngest contestant in the history of the competition, category B (age up to 20)
Krainev Piano Competition
March 2008, Kharkiv/Kyiv, Ukraine
Recipient of the first prize in the junior category
Collaborative Music Experience
The KU Asian Classical Music Initiative (ACMI) International Conferenc
April 8 - 9, 2022, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
Participated in the ACMI conference, an acronym celebrating the contribution and awareness of Asian musicians in the field of classical music, featuring a keynote address given by Dr. Chen Yi
Collaborated with performers from the university of Kansas, performing commissioned chamber works
Worked with composers, performing experimental works featuring non-conventional piano techniques and real-time audio generation using Max patches
Zhaoyin Academy
2020 - 2021, China
Co-founder of Zhaoyin Academy, a non-profit student-run organization aiming to introduce classical music, as a medium for community service, to the general public
Organized and performed multiple non-profit chamber music concerts as part of the pandemic stress buster effort
Accompanist
2019 - 2021, The Juilliard School
Served as Juilliard’s school accompanist, accompanying student lessons, performances, competitions, auditions, and recording sessions
FOCUS Festival
January 2020, The Juilliard School
Performed as a member of the New Juilliard Ensemble in the FOCUS festival concert series, featuring contemporary works utilizing non-conventional techniques and prepared piano
Transatlantic Music Project
May 2018, Italy/Germany
Participated in a one-week chamber music intensive with performances in Montepulciano (Italy), Bonn (Germany), and Köln (Germany)
A chamber music project promoting cultural and musical exchange, forming chamber music groups consisting of musicians from the Juilliard school and the Köln Hochschule für Musik und Tanz
Teaching Experience
Lecturer, Piano Department
November 2022 - Present, Harbin Conservatory of Music, China
Serving as full-time faculty member (rank: lecturer) in the piano department
Overseeing the undergraduate piano major curriculum, including private lessons, studio classes, and elective courses (e.g. piano duo). Experience with teaching in lesson/tutoring (one-on-one) settings as well as classroom/lecture (group) settings
As an active artist-scholar, performing concerts as well as attending academic events on behalf of the conservatory
Participating in administrative routines and other duties (e.g. auditions, exams, and juries)
HDG Ambassador
2021, China
Served as ambassador of the HDG teaching series developed by Prof. Zhaoyi Dan, focusing on a new approach to pedagogy of beginner-level piano playing
Gave multiple 12-hour teacher training intensives (in Chengdu, Hefei, and Guangzhou) by presenting detailed interpretation and usage of the teaching materials
Gave non-profit presentations and masterclasses on music appreciation to high school students
Morse Teaching Fellow, Music Aesthetics
September 2020 - May 2021, The Juilliard School
Served as teaching fellow in a music aesthetics course at George Jackson Academy, a middle school serving underserved communities
Introduced topics and repertoire in music history ranging from the Baroque to the Romantic era
Focused on introducing technical ideas to non-musician teenagers in an approachable manner, often involving the extensive use of metaphors, stories, visual aids to help students with understanding and maintaining interest
Adapted to a fully online teaching environment using Zoom
Teaching Fellow, Graduate Music Theory Review
September 2020 - May 2021, The Juilliard School
Served a section of 17 students as teaching fellow in an graduate review course in music theory
Assessed and graded attendance, assignments, and exams using Canvas LMS
Adapted to a fully online teaching environment using Zoom
Teaching Fellow, Music Theory III/IV
September 2019 - May 2020, The Juilliard School
Served a section of 14 students as teaching fellow in an undergraduate sophomore course in music theory (level III/IV)
Covered topics: augmented sixth chords, Neapolitan chords, modal mixture, tonicization, modulation, sequence, and forms
Assessed and graded attendance, assignments, and exams using Canvas LMS
Lectured when the course instructor was absent
Led weekly class keyboard workshops, focusing on harmonization exercises with an emphasis on keyboard realization
Gave lectures and held Q&A sessions during the weekly keyboard workshops in review and preview of the lecture portion
Designed and conducted in-class keyboard exams and group activities for the weekly keyboard workshops, reinforcing students’ understanding from the lecture portion
Writing Tutor, English and Liberal Arts
September 2015 - May 2020, The Juilliard School
Served as writing tutor in Juilliard’s writing and communication center, conducting one-on-one tutoring appointments
Specialized in brainstorming strategies for essays and presentations, topics in music and liberal arts, and strategies for outline design and argumentation
As a result of understanding and advocating cultural contextualism and perspective-taking, demonstrated strength in communicating with international students to whom English and American academic writing styles were unfamiliar
Writings
The Musical Arrow of Time - The Role of Temporal Asymmetry in Music and Its Organicist Implications
2022, The Juilliard School
D.M.A. Dissertation
Advisor: Philip Lasser
Reviewers: Jonathan Dawe, Anne-Marie Reynolds
A 285-page monograph addressing the role of temporal asymmetry (i.e. the arrow of time) in music and its effects on: music perception, formal structure, and music aesthetics
A discursive project adopting an interdisciplinary approach, synthesizing fields such as philosophy (e.g. epistemology), physics (e.g. thermodynamics), theology, narratology, dramaturgy, and acting techniques
Why 12? An Exploration of the 12-Tone Equal Temperament Using Python
September 10, 2019
An expository paper aiming to offer a mathematical perspective on the choice of 12 in the 12-tone equal temperament system
Incorporated Python’s interactive notebook environment (commonly known as JupyterLab) for data visualization, making the paper appealing to a wider audience
When Notation Becomes the Boundary of Musical Expression
May 15, 2019, The Juilliard School
With Bartok’s Violin Sonata No. 2 (Sz. 76) as a case study, the paper investigated the limitation of the written tradition of music (i.e. musical notation) and its adversary effects on music performance
Struggle with the Daemon - Schumann and His Ghost Variation
December 19, 2018, The Juilliard School
An analysis of Schumann’s Ghost Variation (WoO 24)
Inspired by Stefan Zweig’s book bearing the same title, the paper surveyed various topics in relation to the work: obsessiveness, redemption, and spirituality
Fantasy as the Carrier of Schubert’s Spiritual Journey
December 17, 2018, The Juilliard School
An analysis of Schubert’s Fantasy for Violin and Piano (D.934), and Fantasy in F Minor (D.940), focusing on the idea of the Romantic wanderer
Fatal Encounters in Tristan and Isolde as Reconciliation
December 13, 2018, The Juilliard School
An analysis of three instances of fatal encounters in Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde, as they served the theme of love-death dichotomy in musical and dramatic terms
Leap of Faith - The Role of Mathematics and Myth in the Development of Music Theory
December 20, 2017, The Juilliard School
A survey of the development of music theory during the pre-tonal era, discussing treatises by Boethius, Guido, and Zarlino
Focused on the evolution of music theory in relation to mathematics and myth, proposing the thesis that music theory emancipated itself from mathematics and myth during the course of its development, thus evolving into a subject on its own
Invertible Counterpoint - A Computational Approach
January 2017, The Juilliard School
A paper written in response to a graduate course in counterpoint, aiming to mathematically capture rules for solving invertible counterpoint exercises
Reformulated music-theoretic rules using mathematical terms, enabling an algorithmic implementation of computer-aided solution process
Presentations & Talks
Reconciling Unity and Variety - Revisiting “Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, Op. 24" by Brahms
December 10, 2021, The Juilliard School
D.M.A. lecture-performance, a 60-minute presentation consisting of a 30-minute lecture portion and a 30-minute performance portion
Discussed and analyzed, from the perspective of a concert pianist, how variation form exhibited challenges as well as opportunities for expressive performance
Explored how variety and unity could be reconciled through variation form, focusing on the performer’s role in introducing new musical materials and interpreting repetitions
Methods and Strategies in Piano Practice (Video Episodes)
March 2021
Presented an online lecture series consisting of five 30-minute video episodes
Elaborated content developed from the 60-minute lecture bearing the same title given on October 7, 2020
Methods and Strategies in Piano Practice
October 7, 2020, Shenyang, China
In addition to giving numerous masterclasses and a recital as a visiting pianist, presented a 60-minute lecture with piano demonstration, targeting piano-major students at the Shenyang music conservatory
Focused on a scientific approach to effective methods and strategies in piano practice
Highlighted topics: divide and conquer, deliberate practice, and associative thinking
Extermination of Reality - Moving into the Purely Psychological Realm
April 3, 2019, The Juilliard School
Presented a 25-minute lecture, exploring the theme of mysticism in the early 20th century with Schoenberg’s 6 Little Piano Pieces (Op. 19) as a case study
Adopted an interdisciplinary approach, referring to the early 20th century in terms of multiple fields: music, literature, philosophy, psychology, as well as formal and natural sciences
Programming Skills & Experience
Programming Languages: Python, Go, Javascript/Typescript
Academic Typesetting & Music Engraving: LaTeX, LilyPond, MuseScore
Programming Frameworks: JupyterLab, Music21, Angular.io, GNU Toolchain, Docker
Personal Website
2015 - Present
Full-stack development of my personal website from scratch, covering duties such as content curation, website architecture design, responsive layout design, PWA-support, and continuous deployment
Project “Juilliard Imagination”
2020 - 2021, The Juilliard School
Juilliard Imagination was a project aiming to construct an interactive exhibition space located in the Tianjin Juilliard School. The project explored multimedia-based user interaction, thereby creating an unique experience for the visitors to explore Juilliard’s exclusive collection of manuscripts and recordings
Served as technical and artistic consultant, mediating communications between the engineering team at Sony and the project team at Juilliard
Assisted software development by engineering and proposing suitable data structures to represent musical entities, enabling effective measure-marking of manuscript scores as well as synchronization between audio and visual indicators
Digitization of Library Media
2019, The Juilliard School
Developed a software solution, streamlining the process of digitizing Juilliard’s recording archives, making more than 500 CDs available to the entire school community through the online system known as Jmedia
Invertible Counterpoint Companion Web Application
2017, The Juilliard School
Developed a companion web application for a graduate course in counterpoint, facilitating the process of computing chord charts necessary for solving invertible counterpoint exercises
The development combined domain-specific knowledge of invertible counterpoint and software realization of music-theoretic ideas using technology stack for web application