Dr. Jun Qian, an endorsing artist for the Paris-based Selmer Company, began his appointment as the Assistant Professor of Music in Clarinet at St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota in the fall of 2007. Qian has been on the clarinet faculty at Nazareth College, Houghton College, and New York State University at Fredonia. He has also taught music theory at Eastman School of Music, chamber music at Shanghai Conservatory of Music in China, and performed as the principal clarinetist of Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra. Qian won the first prize for the Orchestral Excerpts Competition and third prize in the Solo Competition at the International Clarinet Association Young Artist Competition in 1997. He was also the second prize winner in the Texas Young Artist Competition, and first prize winner in the Baylor Symphony Orchestra 1998 Concerto Competition. His CD, Premier Rhapsodie, and video, Playing the Clarinet, were released under the Nanjing Shine Horn label in China. In the spring of 2007, Qian was the music producer and soloist for Steven Laitz’s Book “The Complete Musician” published by Oxford University Press in the USA.

Qian has appeared as a concerto soloist with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Eastman Chamber Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic, Xiamen Philharmonic, Baylor Symphony Orchestra, Pueblo Symphony Orchestra, and the Shangyang Opera Orchestra. He has introduced many western clarinet concertos for the first time in full orchestral version to Chinese audiences including Concertos by Aaron Copland and Malcolm Arnold and the La Traviata Fantasy. In 2001, he made his Carnegie Hall debut performing Weber’s Clarinet Concerto No. 1. International appearances as principal clarinetist also include the Eastman Wind Ensemble’s tours of Asia in 2000 and 2004, the North Carolina Festival Orchestra’s European tour, the Kent-Blossom Music Festival, National Orchestra Institute, and the American Wind Symphony. In 2004, he was the featured soloist at the International Performing Arts Festival in Japan, and he has appeared on National Public Radio's “Performance Today” with the Grammy-award winning Ying Quartet.

Since 2006, Qian's activities as a teacher and performer have included a clarinet recital in Paris, France, conducting the Nazareth/Houghton Clarinet Choir as part of the International Clarinet Choir Festival, and many concerto appearances and master classes throughout China, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and the USA. In 2009, Dr. Qian performed a chamber and solo recital in Shanghai, China with the first prize winner of Queen Elizabeth Competition, violinist Yayoi Toda from Japan. Last fall, he was also invited by Singapore Ministry of Education, Singapore National Youth Orchestra and Singapore American School to give many master classes and a solo recital.

In 2011, He  performed solo recitals in Shanghai, Taipei National Concert Hall and feature new compositions at the International Clarinet Conference in LA and the International College Music Society Conference in South Korea.

Currently, he is working on a solo CD project at the Minnesota Public Radio Station, titled " East Meet West".  This CD will be the first professional recording of music for clarinet and piano by well-known Chinese composers. All of the music on the CD explores the intersection of elements of Chinese culture with Western art music. The composers represented in this recording were either born in China or raised in a Chinese family. Collectively, they present an impressive list of international accolades and accomplishments.

Qian holds a bachelor of music from Baylor University where he was a student of Richard Shanley, and the master of music and doctorate of musical arts from the Eastman School of Music where he studied with Kenneth Grant and Stanley Hasty. In addition to the clarinet ensembles, Qian is the founding director of the Virtuosi Chamber Winds and currently the choir director with the United Methodist Church in Northfield, Minnesota.

Jan.2012