Internationally renowned musician Professor Dai Zhonghui has performed and taught extensively throughout Europe, North America and Asia. 

He was formerly the principal trumpet of the Santa Monica Symphony, the Riverside Philharmonic and the Ventura Symphony. In 1996 he was invited to return to China to become the first principal trumpet of the China National Symphony, a position he held until 2006.

As a conductor, Professor Dai Zhonghui is a resident conductor of the Shenzhen Symphony and the Hunan Symphony. In recent years he has frequently conducted many national and international orchestras, including the Southern lIlinois Symphony Orchestra, the Breward Philharmonic, the University of South Carolina Symphony Orchestra, the Eastman School of Music Wind Ensemble, the University of Kansas Wind Ensemble, the University of Indiana Wind Ensemble, the Aguascalientes Symphony Orchestra, the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra, the Shenzhen Symphony, the ChangSha Symphony, the Tianjin Opera Orchestra, the Tianjin Symphony, the Chengdu Symphony, the Henan Symphony, the Hebei Symphony, the Kunming Symphony, the China National Opera and Dance Orchestra, the China Cinematic Orchestra, and the Changchun Cinematic Orchestra among others. In December of 2017, he was invited by the International Society for Music Education(ISME) to conduct the South Carolina Wind Ensemble in a concert in Chicago in which he received great praise for his excellent conducting from both the ensemble and the audience.       

Professor Dai is beloved by students from around the world and hundreds of them attend his masterclasses every year. He is annually invited to give masterclasses at the Spanish International Trumpet Festival, the Polish International Brass Festival, the GVSU International Trumpet Festival, the Philadelphia Brass Music Festival and the International Trumpet Guild’s annual meeting. He has also performed solo recitals taught masterclasses and adjudicated competitions in numerous countries and regions such as the United States, Canada, Hungary, France, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, South Korea, Japan, Macao and Taiwan among others. 

Professor Dai has had numerous students who have won prizes in international competitions. Recently, in 2021 a senior from the Central Conservatory of Music won 3rd prize in the International Trumpet Guild’s Orchestral Excerpts Competition, and in 2022 Chen Jiawei, a junior made it to the finals of the ITG’s solo competition. He has had many students upon graduation win principal and assistant principal positions in major orchestras in China, including the China National Orchestra, the China Philharmonic, the Central Opera, the China Opera and Dance Orchestra, the NCPA orchestra and the China Cinematic Orchestra among others.    

Dai Zhonghui graduated from International University in San Diego, California and the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California. He studied trumpet performance and conducting from Thomas Stevens, Boyde Hood, Charles Schlueter, Daniel Lewis and Douglas Lowry. From 1989 to 1996 he received excellent marks in his study of trumpet performance and ensemble conducting at the University of Southern California. In 1993, he was named “Outstanding Scholar” and continually received a full scholarship.         

Dai Zhonghui is currently professor and doctoral advisor at the Central Conservatory of Music. He is also professor at the Qingdao Yehudi Menuhin School, professor and doctoral advisor at Santo Paulo University in the Philippines and artistic advisor to Mahidol University in Thailand. He is an expert advisor at the Chinese Department of Education for confirmation of academic degree standards, principal conductor of the Wind Ensemble of the Central Conservatory of Music, the chairman of the Asia region for the World Trumpet Association, the vice-chairman of wind instruments for the Chinese Music Association, the head of the Chinese Trumpet Conference and from 2006 until 2019 was an officer of the International Trumpet Guild.  

After many years of contribution to the music world, the well-know musical publication “Pipers” referred to professor Dai Zhonghui as “a musician of important influence on the development of Chinese Symphonic Music”.