Bio
Summary
Violinist NING Feng is the winner of dozens of prestigious prizes including the Premio Paganini Violin Competion in Italy (2006) and the Michael Hill International Violin Competition in New Zealand (2005).
After a master class with Lord Menhuin, he was immediately invited to play in Germany at one of the last concerts organised by the great maestro. He received the only perfect final exam score (100%) in the 200-year history of the Royal Academy of Music, London, and was made an associate of the Academy upon graduation.
Since winning the Paganini, he has been in heavy demand, performing in Europe, the US and throughout Asia. His 10-orchestra tour of Asia, Australia and New Zealand in 2008 was followed by extensive return invitations that continue to this year.
Biography
Since winning the famous Paganini Violin Competion in September 2006, Feng Ning’s career has blossomed on several continents. He has appeared by invitation all across the US, Canada, Russia, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Malaysia, Singapore, China, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. His extensive debut tour of Australia in 2008 incorporated an unprecedented 10 orchestral stops in that country, New Zealand, Malaysia and Singapore, and was met with multiple invitations to return that extend to 2010 and beyond.
Feng Ning was born in Chengdu, China, where he started the violin at age four. He studied at the Sichuan Music Conservatory with Prof. Weimin Hu, participated in master classes with Ruggiero Ricci at the Dartington International Summer School in England, and in 1997 was one of the seven young violinists selected from the whole of the P.R. China to attend the Morningside Music Bridge workshop in Calgary, Canada. The same year he won the overall Grand Prize (for candidates in four different sections including Violin, Piano, Flute and Oboe) and the First Prize for violin in the 5th International Art Competition for High School Students in Takasaki Japan, resulting in a tour to Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka, and a recording contract with JVC Victor Records.
In 1998, Ning was invited as a full scholarship student to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Prof. Hu Kun. There he participated in a master class with the late Lord Yehudi Menuhin, who invited him to perform in Germany at one of the last concerts he organized. Afterwards, the Maestro wrote: "I was most impressed with his performance …. and feel that he has real talent and musicianship to go very far."
During his study in the Royal Academy of Music, he was the recipient of multiple prizes and awards, including the "Roth Prize" for violin, the "Wilfrid Parry Prize" for violin & piano duo, and was several times the recipient of prizes from the Hattori Foundation in London.
In June 2003, Feng Ning became the first student ever to be given a perfect score (100%) for his final recital (end of study exam) in the nearly 200 years of Royal Academy of Music history, and was elected as an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM), an honour reserved for only those graduates who have achieved distinction in their profession.
While still a student in London, Ning racked up more prizes and competition wins. In 1998 he won the "Association Damson Francois-Scarbo" Prize in the International Jacques Thibaud Violin Competition in Paris, and one week later won the Royal Philharmonic Society, "Emily Anderson Prize" in London. In 2001, he was awarded the "The Friends of the Royal Academy of Music - Wigmore Award" and gave his debut recital at the prestigious Wigmore Hall on the 4th of June, 2001. One month later he won the First Prize in the London Oratory International Violin Competition.
In 2002, Ning was awarded the "Emily English Scholarship" from the Musicians Benevolent Found in London, and won the special prize for "The Best Performance of The Modern Piece" at the International Tchaikovsky Music Competition in Moscow. In 2003 he won the 1st prize in the XIII Violinwettbewerb der Ibolyka Gyarfas Stiftung, and two years later won 1st Prize at the Michael Hill International Violin Competition in New Zealand.
In September 2006, Feng Ning crowned his professional career to date by winning 1st prize as well as two other special prizes at the prestigious 51st Paganini International Violin Competition in Genova, Italy. As a result of this competition, he was invited to perform on Paganini's own violin - The 1743 Guarneri del Gesù 'Cannone'.
In 2005, Feng Ning's first solo CD - which has now sold out - was released in China, and he has also made recordings for JVC Records and Triton Records in Japan, Cypres Records in Belgium. His newest CD, “Mr Paganini” was released on Channel Classics in the Netherlands, and another album is in preparation.
Feng Ning has performed with the China Philharmonic, Chinese National Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony, Guangzhou Symphony, the Philharmonia Hungarica, the Malaysian Philharmonic, Singapore Symphony, Orchestra Victoria, the Tasmanian, Adelaide, Queensland and Melbourne Symphonies, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Akron Symphony, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the London Mozart Players and the Belgium National Symphony Orchestra, the Symphonia Vienna, the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover, the I Musici de Montreal, the Auckland Philharmonia, Vector Wellington Orchestra and Christchurch Symphony, among many others.
This year he gives his Hong Kong debut at the Hong Kong Arts Festival with Yip Wing-Sie and the Hong Kong Sinfonietta in March, and debuts with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife under Lü Jia in May. In addition to numerous engagements in Europe and Asia, he returns to work with orchestras in Melbourne, Hobart, Adelaide, Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland, and makes his debut with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra under by Alexander Lazarev in Perth. Invited back to Moscow by Vladimir Spivakov in 2009, plans are underway for a tour of Russia in the Northern Fall.
Feng Ning is based in Berlin, where he has just completed his studies with Antje Weithaas at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler". He plays a Peter Stefan Greiner violin (Bonn 2007).
Feng Ning Short Biography
Since winning 1st Prize at the Michael Hill International Violin Competition in New Zealand in 2005 and the 51st Paganini International Violin Competition in Genova, Italy in 2006, offers have flooded in from all over the globe for performances by virtuoso Feng Ning. He has appeared by invitation in the United States and throughout Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
Feng Ning was born in Chengdu, China, where he started the violin at age four. He studied at the Sichuan Music Conservatory, and in 1998, was invited as a full scholarship student to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London. There he participated in a master class with the late Lord Yehudi Menuhin, who invited him to perform in Germany at one of the last concerts he organized.
In June 2003, Feng Ning became the first student ever to be given a perfect score (100%) for his final recital (end of study exam) in the nearly 200 years of Royal Academy of Music history, and was elected as an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM), an honour reserved for only those graduates who have achieved distinction in their profession.
In addition to numerous engagements in Europe and Asia, he returns this year to work with orchestras in Melbourne, Hobart, Adelaide, Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland, and makes his debut with Alexander Lazarev in Perth. Invited back to Moscow by Vladimir Spivakov in 2009, Maestro Spivakov immediately extended a new invitation for a tour of Russia this year in the Northern Fall.
Feng Ning is based in Berlin, where he has just completed his studies with Antje Weithaas at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler". He plays a Peter Stefan Greiner violin (Bonn 2007).
Revised 28 January 2010 - Please destroy all previous or undated biographies.
Feng Ning
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