Siqing Lu Named President of the Yehudi Menuhin School's New Qingdao Campus

The school's new campus is aiming to recruit 320 students by 2024, with that number set to grow to 850 if further facilities are built

The Yehudi Menuhin School, a specialist music high school based in Surrey, England, has recently opened a new location in Qingdao, China. The Qingdao campus, which opened in August 2022, is currently aiming to recruit 320 students by the end of 2024.

The Chinese violinist Siqing Lu has been named as the new President of the Qingdao campus. Alongside his leadership role, he has also been named a professor of violin at the school, and will teach students one-on-one.

As a soloist, Lu has performed with some of the world's top orchestras, and in a range of prestigious concert halls. These include the Musikverein in Vienna, Avery Fisher Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York City, and the Barbican Centre, Royal Opera House, and Wigmore Hall in London.

Lu has collaborated especially closely with the Chinese composer and conductor Tan Dun, and he gave the premiere performance of Dun's "Hero" violin concerto in 2011.

Other members of the permanent string faculty include Chen Xi, Claudia Carrey, and He Shucong.

Various pedagogues who are based in the UK will also fly in to teach students on occasion, including Mark Messenger (Head of Strings at the Royal College of Music) and current YMS Surrey faculty member Doriane Gable.