A native of China, Sissi Zhang began her violin study at the age of four. After almost a decade of professional trainings at the Shanghai Music Middle School and winning top prizes in the National Violin Competitions in China, Sissi went on to study at The Juilliard School with full scholarship. During her years at The Juilliard School, she competed in numerous international violin competitions, including the Queen Elisabeth Violin Competition, Michael Hill Violin Competition and Singapore Intercontinental Violin Competition. After obtaining both degrees of Bachelor of Music and Master of Music studying with Lewis Kaplan, Ronald Copes and Ida Kavafian, Sissi continued to pursue Master of Musical Arts at Yale School of Music with Ani Kavafian for a year, where she served as concertmaster of both Yale Philharmonia and Yale Opera.
Sissi’s orchestral appearances include Verbier Festival Orchestra, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Grand Teton Music Festival and Los Angeles Philharmonic on their centennial tour.
Active in solo, chamber, and orchestral performances, Sissi has performed in the US, Europe, Asia, and Oceania. Notably, she has appeared in performances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Walt Disney Hall, Barbican Center and Boston Symphony Hall. Already in her career as a versatile violinist, Sissi has had the privilege of working with world renowned conductors such as Christoph Eschenbach, Gustavo Dudamel, Charles Dutoit, Alan Gilbert, Manfred Honeck, Jamie Laredo, Peter Ounjian, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Yannick Nézet-Séquin, Josef Silverstein, Michael Tilson Thomas, and David Zinman.
Sissi is currently a member of the first violin section with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra since 2017. She also served as co-first violin with the Peachtree String Quartet from 2017-2022. Aside from being a professional orchestra player, Sissi enjoys teaching and playing chamber music with her colleagues and friends.
