Violinist Jing Zhang began studying the violin at the age of four. She entered the Shanghai Conservatory of Music on the Fu Cheng-Xian Scholarship at age ten as the youngest of only four violinists accepted that year. She received her master’s and bachelor’s degrees in violin performance from the New England Conservatory where she studied with Donald Weilerstein.

Zhang has performed extensively around the world, and her most memorable concert performances include those given in the US, Canada, Australia, Singapore, and her native China. She has appeared in numerous recitals and programs including the Temple Israel’s Schmier Concert in Detroit; the premiere of the Perlman Music Residency Program in Vermont; and many others at New England Conservatory and Shanghai Conservatory where she has often been invited to visit back and play as a top graduate and renowned alumna. Zhang has also performed as a soloist with the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra, the Shanghai Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie.

Zhang has won multiple national and international competitions including fourth prize at the Fourth International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians, the Gold Award in the Second "Pu Gong Ying" National Violin Competition, and third prize in the Seventh National Youth Violin Performance Competition. She was a semi-finalist in the 2009 Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competition and in the 2012 San Diego Symphony auditions for violin. Zhang was a finalist in the 2011 Cleveland Orchestra and the 2012 Chicago Symphony Orchestra auditions. She has attended festivals such as the Morningside Music Bridge Summer Camp in Canada, the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado, the Perlman Music Program, and the Perlman Music Program’s Chamber Music Workshop.

Outside of her mastery of the violin, Zhang starred in a 2002 Chinese film Together which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. In her spare time, Zhang enjoys spending time with her friends and being outdoors.

Mike Chen received a Bachelor and Master of Music from Northwestern University studying violin with Blair Milton. In 1999 he began playing the viola and studied with Li-Kuo Chang. His other teachers included Michael Strauss, Peter Slowik, Keith Conant, and Baird Dodge.

Chen was a member of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra from 2012 to 2018, a member of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra from 2003 to 2012, and prior to that, a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago from 1992 to 1995. He has performed with the Detroit Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, and Chicago Symphony. In 2017, Chen joined the Cincinnati Symphony on its European Festivals Tour.

He received a master’s degree in conducting at Northwestern University in 1999, studying with Victor Yampolsky and Mariusz Smolij. His other conducting teachers include Gilbert Varga, David Zinman, and Murry Sidlin.

Chen was a conducting fellow at the American Academy of Conducting in Aspen, Colorado in 2008. He has also served as Assistant Conductor of the Saint Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra, Guest Conductor of the Webster University Community Music School’s Young People’s Symphony Orchestra, and Guest Conductor of the Indianapolis Symphony Side-by-Side Orchestra.

Jeremy Crosmer is a remarkable artist—both as a cellist and a composer. He completed multiple graduate degrees from the University of Michigan in cello, composition, and theory pedagogy, and received his DMA in 2012 at age 24. From 2012 to 2017 he served as Assistant Principal Cello with the Grand Rapids Symphony and joined the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in May of 2017.

Crosmer is the composer and arranger for the GRS Music for Health Initiative, which pairs symphonic musicians with music therapists to bring classical music to hospitals. In March of 2017, the Helen DeVos Children's Hospital launched a music channel that runs continuously, using four hours of meditative music composed by Crosmer and performed by musicians of the GRS.

Crosmer is a founding member of the modern music ensemble Latitude 49. He is also a current member of the band ESME—a duo that aims to broaden the education of classical music by bringing crossovers and mashups of pop and classical music to schools throughout Michigan. ESME released its first CD in December of 2016.

In April of 2013, Crosmer toured London with the Grand Valley State University Chamber Orchestra performing the Boccherini G Major Concerto, No. 7. He performed the Vivaldi Double Concerto with Alicia Eppinga and the GRS in March of 2016. While still in school, Crosmer was awarded the prestigious Theodore Presser Graduate Music Award to publish, record, and perform his Crosmer-Popper duets. He recorded the duets with Julie Albers, and both sheet music and CD recordings are available online.

Crosmer has taught music theory, pre-calculus, and cello at universities across Michigan. He draws mazes, writes science fiction, and plays good old country fiddle in his spare time.

Zhihua Tang is assistant professor in collaborative piano at the Michigan State University College of Music.

She has enjoyed an active performing career around the world and has been praised for her extraordinary versatility and profound artistry on the piano. Over the years, Tang has collaborated with some of today’s leading musicians: violinists Joshua Bell, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Yuval Yaron, Robert Chen, Yoonshin Song, Emmanuelle Boisvert, and Yuan-Qing Yu; cellists Robert deMaine and Haiye Ni; violist Mahoko Eguchi; flutists Maxim Rubtsov and Jeff Zook; bassist Alexander Hanna; and oboist Dwight Parry.

Her chamber music partners have included numerous principal players from many major symphony orchestras, such as New York Philharmonic, Russian National Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic and symphony orchestras of Chicago, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, National, Detroit, Dallas, among others. Since 2011, she has performed frequently with Detroit Symphony Orchestra in many of its concert series. In May 2013, she has appeared in Carnegie Hall with the Detroit Symphony under Leonard Slatkin as part of Carnegie Hall’s annual Spring for Music Festival.

Tang was the top prize winner of the Beethoven Sonata Competition in Memphis, Tennessee and the Central Division of the MTNA Collegiate Artist Competition, Chopin Competition in Chicago. She has also received honorable mention at the XII International Chopin Competition in Warsaw, Poland. As a concerto soloist, she has performed with many orchestras in different continents, including Detroit Civic Orchestra, Chicago Sinfonietta, Indiana University Philharmonic Orchestra, Shanghai Ballet Orchestra, and Shanghai Conservatory of Music Symphony Orchestra. In 2013, her performance of the Beethoven “Emperor” concerto with Detroit Civic Orchestra at Detroit Orchestra Hall was broadcast live on Detroit WRCJ radio station. As a recitalist, she has performed extensively across Europe, U.S., and Asia in major music venues such as Bösendorfer Hall in Vienna, Rackham Hall in Ann Arbor, Detroit Orchestra Hall, Beijing Zhongshan Music Hall, and Shanghai Centre Theatre.

She has held teaching positions at Alma College, Central Michigan University, Eastern Michigan University, University of North Dakota, and Summer Music Camp at Bowling Green State University. As an avid advocate for music in the community, she has worked as chamber music coach in the Detroit Civic Youth Ensemble, one of the premier youth music organizations in the country. She has been frequently invited to give performances and master classes throughout United States and her native China.

A native of Shanghai, China, Tang began her piano studies at the age of five with her father. She attended the Shanghai Conservatory, where she was a recipient of the Fei Minyi Fellowship and Shen Xingong Scholarship. She received master of music degree from Indiana University as a scholarship student of Menahem Pressler. She later completed her DMA degree from Michigan State University College of Music under the tutelage of Deborah Moriarty. She has also worked with some of the most important pedagogues including Paul-Badura Skoda, Russell Sherman, Joseph Kalichstein, John Perry, Anton Kuerti, Martin Katz, Janos Starker, Elly Ameling, and Pamela Frank. Additionally, she has participated in the Aspen Music Festival, Banff Music Festival, Orford Music Center, and Gilmore Piano Festival.