2012 Cello Faculty

NI TAO was born on Oct. 13, 1984 in Beng Bu, AnHui Province, China. He began his cello studies with his father at the age of eight and a year later he was enrolled in the Shanghai Conservatory Preparatory Division, where he studied with Professor Liu Mei Juan.

Ni Tao made his first visit to North America in 1996 attending summer music workshops at Indiana University (Bloomington) and the Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada. He came as a student to the first Morningside Music Bridge in 1997, and stayed at Mount Royal College Conservatory studying with John Kadz. His other teachers include Laurence Lesser, Timothy Eddy, and most recent, Ronald Leonard at the Colburn School. Tao was also a participant in various festivals including Meadowmount, Ravinia Festival (Steans Institute for Young Artists), and the New York String Seminar in Carnegie Hall.

Tao had much success in competitions such as winning Johannsen String Competition, Pasadena Showcase Competition, Hudson Valley Competition, New England Conservatory Concerto Competition, as well as getting top prizes at Tchaikovsky Competition for young musicians, Kingsville Competition, Klein String Competition, Corpus Christi Concerto Competition and Hams Competition.

He has soloed with many orchestras including Boston Symphony Orchestra, Arlington Symphony, Brockton Symphony, Concord Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic, Shanghai Philharmonic, Sendai Orchestra, Shanghai Opera, Colburn Orchestra, and Calgary Youth Orchestra, amount many others. As an experienced chamber musician, Tao has collaborated with such artists as Itzak Perlman, Josef Silverstein, Ani Kavafian, Anton Kuerti, Kim Kashkasian, James Dunham, Donald Weilerstein, Frank Cohen, Miriam Fried and Robert Chan.

Other performing highlights include: performing for Jiang Zemin, President of China in Calgary, in recital at The Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C., featured in a national CBC Radio broadcast as part of the Mount Royal College 90th Anniversary Series, a hip hop transcription of Vivaldi a minor cello concerto with members of Boston University Orchestra, as well as featured in Canada’s National Post newspaper as a “Leader of Tomorrow”.

Tao was a section member of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and is now Associate Principal Cello with the LA Philharmonic.