Strauss Shi

Chinese-American violinist Strauss Shi is quickly establishing himself as a rising artist, emerging educator, and young ambassador representing music of the east and west. Praised by American conductor Carl St.Clair as “a deeply probing musician who plays with passionate commitment and virtuosity” and a “rising star” by the late Maestro Michael Morgan, Strauss made his major debut with the Utah Symphony under the baton of Vladimir Kulenovic at the age of seventeen and has since then concertized in the United States, Europe and Asia.

Strauss is a top prizewinner at numerous competitions including Gold Medal at the 3rd Berliner International Music Competition (2019), First Prize at the USC Thornton Concerto Competition (2018), Grand Prize at the Mondavi Center Young Artists Competition (2017), First Prize at the United States International Music Competition (2016), and Second Prize at the inaugural Siqing Lu Futian International Violin Competition (2016), among others.

Recent solo appearances include the USC Thornton Symphony and Andrés Cárdenes, Downey Symphony Orchestra and Sharon Lavery across two seasons, Chamber Music Society of Colombo with Midori, and his debut with the Pacific Symphony at the invitation of Carl St.Clair in their Summer Series “Symphony in the Cities” in Mission Viejo, Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Musco Center, and Irvine across 10,000+ audiences to major acclaim. Recital highlights include debuts in San Francisco (sold-out), Los Angeles, and New York.
As a chamber musician, Strauss has shared the stage with world renowned artists including Shmuel Ashkenasi, Midori, Lü Siqing, Carol Wincenc, Li Lin, Brian Lewis, Vera Tsu Wei-ling, and Qian Zhou. His festival appearances include Kneisel Hall, Heifetz Institute, and Juilliard Starling-DeLay Symposium. He is a founding member of the Monterey Piano Trio and a regular collaborator with concert guitarist Tengyue Zhang.

His early years as a young boy were spent studying and performing on traditional Chinese instruments, the erhu and gaohu, with his acclaimed family ensemble the Melody of China. Growing up in San Francisco since 2003, he has received significant mentorship with the Ensemble, and has appeared with them in concerts and outreach across venues ranging from home concerts, churches, public schools, universities, to major venues including the S.F. International Arts Festival, The Juilliard School, Davies Symphony Hall, and the San Francisco Herbst Theatre where he made his debut at age 8. With deep roots in traditional Chinese and Western music, Strauss continues to serve as a young ambassador by bridging both genres of music across the San Francisco Bay Area and recently Los Angeles. In 2020, Strauss joins the teaching artist roster at The Music Center on Tour on behalf of the Melody of China. Strauss began his erhu and gaohu studies at the age of 6 with his parents, and later received additional guidance with renowned gaohu master Yu Qiwei at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.

Born in China and raised in San Francisco, Strauss began his violin studies at the age of eight with Pan Zuohan, Elizabeth Liang, and later studied with Chen Zhao. Strauss earned his Bachelor’s degree studying with Catherine Cho at The Juilliard School on full scholarship. He holds a Master’s degree from the USC Thornton School of Music, where he studied with Midori Goto and Pamela Frank.