Regarded as China's premier clarinetist, Fan Lei has been captivating audiences as a soloist and recitalist throughout the United States, Canada, and Asia. He has collaborated with several of the world's leading musicians, among them Patrick Gallois, Richard Killmer, Stephen Maxym, David Shifrin, and is a founding member of the Norfolk Trio at the Norfolk Summer Chamber Music Festival in Connecticut. In 1998, he appeared in recitals at the Beijing International Clarinet Festival. In addition, he has performed as a soloist for the Prime Ministers of Canada and Great Britain.
As an enthusiastic advocate and performer of new music, he recently gave Penderecki's "Sextet" its North American premier and presented the premier performance of James Cohen's "Three Pieces for Clarinet." His concerts have been broadcast in the United States and Canada and he has appeared on Yugoslavian and Chinese television.
As an active adjudicator, he served as a jury member for the 1998 Beijing International Clarinet Competition and for the National Arts Club Clarinet Competition in New York City. He is also the Artistic Director for the International Clarinet Festival in Xian, China.
Mr. Fan received degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory and Yale University, and his teachers have included Tao Chunxiao, Elsa Ludwig Verdehr, Lawrence McDonald, David Shifrin, Fred Ormand, and Kalmen Opperman. His many honors and awards include the Grand Prize of the Chinese National Clarinet Competition, where he was chosen as one of two ambassadors to represent the Peoples Republic of China at the Toulon International Competition in France, where he also won honors. He was awarded a prize at the International Young Clarinetist Competition in Seattle, Washington, and was a finalist in the 1991 Young Concert Artist International Auditions in New York.
A passionate and devoted teacher, Fan Lei has performed recitals and master classes at Yale University, the Interlochen Arts Academy, the Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory of Music, the National Arts University in Taiwan, the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music, the China Navy Music Academy, the Xian Conservatory of Music, and the Banff Center for the Arts. Presently Mr. Fan serves as a permanent visiting professor at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and the Xian Conservatory and as visiting artist at the Banff Center for the Arts. He is an associate professor at the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music. In addition, Mr. Fan is principal clarinetist in the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra.
Contact by e-mail: lei.fan@lawrence.edu