Qilin Sun, pianist, is currently Professor of Piano Performance at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, where she was appointed in 2025 as a high-level talent scholar. A graduate of The Juilliard School, she earned her Bachelor, Master, and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees under the tutelage of Yoheved Kaplinsky and Matti Raekallio. She is the First Prize winner of the 13th China Golden Bell Award for Music, Second Prize winner of the Ministry of Culture’s inaugural Wenhua National Piano Competition, and recipient of the “Chinese Elite Pianist” honor by the Chinese Musicians’ Association. Her recognitions include the National Arts Fund of China (2025), the Bashu Arts Award for Distinguished Artists (2023), and designation as a Class-C Leading Talent of Sichuan Province (2024). In 2021, she became the youngest piano professor in China, previously serving on the faculty of the Sichuan Conservatory of Music as Professor of Piano, Master’s Advisor, and Academic Committee Member.
Hailed by The Irish Times as a brilliant performer with “unfettered enthusiasm,” and by New York Music Review as “Ms. Sun may rightly take her place in the league of mastery,” Sun’s artistry combines poetic imagination with commanding power. She has appeared in more than twenty countries at major venues such as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, and at international festivals including Aspen, Salzburg, Fontainebleau, Holland Music Sessions, and Goslar. She has collaborated with ensembles such as the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Juilliard Chamber Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony, and Guangzhou Symphony.
Sun’s academic interests center on cross-cultural performance studies, piano technique, and the scientific foundations of interpretation. Her research has appeared in People’s Music, Piano Artistry, and Music Weekly, and she frequently presents lectures and masterclasses at conservatories across China.