Tao Shi
Renowned Erhu Soloist and Educator
President, Asian-American Music Artist Alliance
Music Director, North America Chinese Youth Orchestra
Tao Shi was the second Erhu soloist to be invited to solo with the San Francisco Symphony in the past 25-year history. In Chinese New Year 2021, Tao Shi was invited to make his Erhu soloist debut, performing “Gallop of Warhorses,” with the San Francisco Symphony and conductor Ming Luke in their Year of the Ox Virtual Celebration Concert. His acclaimed performance with the San Francisco Symphony was livestreamed and broadcasted worldwide reaching an international audience, and has been made available for on-demand streaming on SFSymphony+ in its inaugural year.
Mr. Shi’s highlights as an Erhu soloist in the United States includes premiering the Erhu Concerto, “Parting of the Newly Weds,” and performing Erik Satie’s “Gymnopedie No. 3” with renowned oboist Elaine Douvas, the Pro-Art Symphony Orchestra and conductor James Gardner in 2004. In 2009, Mr. Shi was invited as guest soloist with the Oakland East Bay Symphony under the baton of Maestro Michael Morgan, performing the Bach Double Violin Concerto. He premiered Loren Jones’s “Dancing on the Brink of the World” at the 2013 Hot Air Music Festival as guest soloist with the San Francisco Conservatory Symphony and conductor John Kendall Bailey. Mr. Shi’s acclaimed performances have reached the major concert halls of Davies Symphony Hall, The Juilliard School, San Francisco Conservatory’s Caroline Hume Concert Hall, SF Chinese Culture Center, Asian Art Museum, and has appeared on China Central Television (CCTV) and KTSF Channel 26 and 32.
Deeply committed and highly dedicated as a music educator of the past three decades, Mr. Shi has been part of the first wave of Chinese musicians in the Bay Area to jumpstart and offer Traditional Chinese Instruments classes to numerous afterschool music programs, summer youth programs, and college credit courses at Oakland Laney College, Lincoln Elementary School, West Lake Middle School, Edna Brewer Middle School, Gordon J. Lau Elementary School, Alice Fong Yu Alternative School, and Oakland School for the Arts. As a result of the successful expansion and through his profound and selfless efforts as music educator, Mr. Shi have received high praise from National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Former Chairman Jane Chu, after observing Mr. Shi’s Chinese Music and Instruments Class at the Oakland Lincoln Elementary School. Mr. Shi has served as former conductor and vice-director of the Rongrong Choir. Under his former direction of the Great Wall Choir, he has taken them to perform at the 2005 China CCTV《同一首歌》“The Same Song” Concert at the San Jose HP Pavilion for over 17,000+ live audiences, and broadcasted live to 1.3 billion viewers across China.
Born in Nanjing, China, Mr. Shi began playing the erhu at the age of seven. At the age of nine, he was accepted into the nationally-acclaimed Little Red Flower Art Ensemble in Nanjing, China. He won First Prize at the Chinese & Western Instruments Competition of Nanjing Children. He attended the Nanjing Normal University in China, where he began studying erhu under nationally-acclaimed professor Zhenlu Shen in 1986. Shortly after graduation, he became music educator at the Nanjing Normal University, where he discovered his lifelong passion and commitment to music education. During his early career in China, Mr. Shi dedicated his music knowledge to compiling and editing a series of music textbooks, which had been adopted for use nationwide.
Tao Shi is a renowned Erhu soloist, in-demand educator, and music director based the Bay Area. Tao Shi is the President of the Asian-American Music Artists Alliance (AMAA) and Music Director of the North America Chinese Youth Orchestra (NACYO). He is the Lead Teacher at the Purple Silk Music Education Foundation.
'Gallop of Warhorses' 戰馬奔騰
Tao Shi & San Francisco Symphony
Ming Luke, conductor