Our Faculty

Background

Born and raised in Beijing, China, Jingqi Zhu is a conductor and pianist, currently serving as Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Orchestral and Instrumental Studies at Binghamton University.

Professionally, Zhu has conducted orchestras in the US and beyond. Her recent conducting engagements include Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie Konstanz (Germany), MÁV Symphony Orchestra (Hungary), The Dallas Opera Orchestra, Spokane Symphony and Syracuse Orchestra. A firm believer in the power of community music building, Zhu has guest conducted youth orchestras and civic orchestras such as the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies, Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, St. Cloud Symphony Orchestra, Buffalo Community Orchestra, and Golden Valley Orchestra. She has also collaborated with the Minnesota Chorale and has been involved on numerous projects as a conductor and chamber musician with composers, singers, and instrumentalists.

With a versatile background in choral and orchestral conducting, Zhu developed a deep passion for opera during her formative years studying at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where she served both as assistant chorus master and pianist for the productions at IU Opera and Ballet Theater every year. While pursuing her doctoral degree in at University of Minnesota, she gained extensive experiences conducting, assisting and preparing choruses for full productions of Verdi’s Il Trovatore, Puccini’s Suor Angelica, Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Strauss II’s Die Fledermaus with the University of Minnesota Opera Theatre.

These collegiate opera experiences soon propelled Zhu to the professional stage. In 2024, she was one of only four conductors worldwide selected for The Dallas Opera's prestigious program Hart Institute for Women Conductors, where she performed excerpts from Samuel Barber’s Vanessa with world-class singers and The Dallas Opera Orchestra under the mentorship of Emmanuel Villaume. Later that year, she returned to The Dallas Opera as assistant conductor and pianist for the season-opening production of Verdi’s La Traviata. In 2025, she will also serve as the assistant conductor and pianist for the Quad City Symphony Orchestra’s production of Omar’s Journey, a concert opera adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning work by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels.

In 2023, Zhu was named Music Director Fellow with the Spokane Symphony, and the Conducting Fellow at National Orchestral Institute + Festival. She has also participated and performed in masterclasses and festivals with world-renowned conductors, including Marin Alsop and James Ross at the National Orchestral Institute + Festival, Johannes Schlaefli at the Internationale Sommerakademie, Jorma Panula at the ninth International Masterclass in Budapest, James Lowe and James Ross at Spokane Symphony’s First International Conductor’s Workshop, and Carl St. Clair at the Wintergreen Festival, among others.

As an active pianist, Zhu performed with the Indiana University Chamber Orchestra under Carl St. Clair as the winner of the piano concerto competition. She continues to perform extensively in solo and chamber recitals, as well as in choral and orchestral concerts and professional opera productions.

Zhu’s principal conducting teacher is Mark Russell Smith at the University of Minnesota. Her other teachers include Kathy Romey and Matthew Mehaffey (University of Minnesota), Jean-Louis Haguenauer and Betsy Burleigh (Indiana University), and Kate Tamarkin and Michael Slon (University of Virginia). Beyond school, she is mentored by Carl St. Clair, Paolo Bressan, James Lowe, and Emmanuel Villaume

Education

• Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) in Conducting, University of Minnesota Twin Cities

• Master of Music (MM) in Choral Conducting, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music

• Master of Music (MM) in Piano Performance, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music

• Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Music and Statistics (double major), University of Virginia

Research Interests

• Conducting Techniques

• Teaching Methods for Choral-Orchestral Conducting

• Teaching Methods for Opera Conducting

• Rehearsal Techniques for Orchestras of Different Levels

• Contemporary Opera

• East Asian Composers and Repertoire