Wei-Yang Andy Lin
Taiwanese born violist and erhuist (Chinese violin), Dr. Andy Lin, is recognized as the only active performer who specialized in both western and eastern instruments. Praised by The Strad “The great Molto adagio… elicited some of the night’s most sensitive work, especially from Andy Lin on viola.”, and New York Times “Taiwanese-born violist Andy Lin… is also a virtuoso on the erhu, and he gave a brilliant performance.”, is the artistic director and co-founder of the New Asia Chamber Music Society. He holds his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Juilliard School and received his Doctor’s degree in Musical Arts from SUNY Stony Brook. He has won numerous competitions including Taiwan National Viola Competition and First Prize in the 2008 Juilliard Viola Concerto Competition. He has also appeared as soloist with orchestras such as Yonkers Philharmonic Orchestra, Orford Academy Orchestra and New York Classical Players. He is also a member of the Musicians of Lenox Hill and serves as principal violist of the New York Classical Players and the Solisti Ensemble. He has been invited to perform chamber music with Itzhak Perlman where The New York Times described “Mr. Perlman, playing first violin… answered in kind by the violist Wei-Yang Andy Lin.”
As a world recognized erhu player, he has recently world-premiered an erhu concerto by Kevin Lau with the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra in Houston. In 2019, he performed an erhu concerto “Wild Grass” by Wenjing Guo with the Juilliard Orchestra at its Focus! Festival final concert at Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center in which it was featured on the New York Times, this also made him the only person in the Juilliard history who performed concertos with the Juilliard Orchestra on both western and eastern instruments. He has been invited by the Metropolitan Museum to give recitals at their Gallery Concert Series and Patrons Lounge Concert, as well as a recital at the Caramoor Center for the Music and the Arts.