Dynamic violinist JIN-SHAN DAI has performed extensively throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. He joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the beginning of the 2010/11 season. Previously, he was a member of the Toronto Symphony from 2004 to 2010, and made his debut as a soloist with that orchestra in 2008 playing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. A native of China, Dai studied at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing before moving to the U.S. at the age of 17 to continue his studies with Julia Bushkova, Eugene Drucker, Philip Setzer, Ani Kavafian, and Peter Oundjian. He was also greatly influenced by Paul Kantor and Kathleen Winkler.

Dai is the recipient of numerous prizes and accolades, among them top prizes in the 2000 Emerson International Chamber Music Competition and the 2000 Van Rooy National Violin Competition. Dai performs frequently as a chamber musician, and has collaborated with such artists as Mstislav Rostropovich, Lowell Liebermann, and members of the Emerson String Quartet. His chamber music performances have brought him to the Taos Chamber Music Festival in New Mexico and the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan, as well as the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California. At home in Los Angeles, Dai frequently appears in the Philharmonic’s Chamber Music Society and Green Umbrella new music series.

Dai is a strong believer in the transformative power of music. He began his outreach efforts in Toronto with the Bach Consort ensemble, a charity organization that performs exclusively works by J.S. Bach to raise money for charities that provide scholarships for students and money for hospitals. Here in Los Angeles, he is proud to participate in Street Symphony, a non-profit organization that actively brings live classical music outreach concerts to the underserved mentally ill living within homeless, incarcerated, and veteran communities on Skid Row and throughout Los Angeles.

Dai has held leading positions in festival orchestras such as the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival in Germany; the Jerusalem International Music Festival in Israel; and the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina. He was also a member of the New Haven Symphony and the Hartford Symphony in Connecticut. Dai performs annually as part of the Asia Philharmonic Orchestra, a performance-focused festival orchestra that promotes harmony and friendship through music among Asian countries and the world.