Regarded as an icon of China's rise in the world of classical music, Fan Lei is in constant demand as a soloist, recitalist and music pedagogue around the world. 

A native of Qingdao, China, Fan Lei left home at the age of twelve to study music at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing.  In 1985, he was awarded the Grand Prize at the Chinese National Clarinet Competition, during which he was chosen to represent the People’s Republic of China at the Toulon International Competition in France, where he also won honors. He would later win top prize at the International Young Clarinetist Competition in Seattle, Washington and was a finalist in the 1991 Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York. A sought after chamber musician, Fan Lei collaborates frequently with such distinguished ensembles and artists as the Muir, Shanghai, and Beijing String Quartets, Edgar Meyer, and woodwind players Patrick Gallois and David Shifrin.He has appeared in several national television and radio broadcasts around the world as well as the documentary film Melody from the Heart, which China’s CCTV first aired in 2012. He was the Principal Clarinetist of the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra, a visiting artist at the Banff Centre for the Arts from 1999 to 2007, and recently performed at the Aggasi International Chamber Music Festival. 

With a firm belief in the importance of paying forward the art of his instrument, Fan dedicates a substantial amount of time toward teaching the future stars of his craft. In recent years, his students have won numerous awards in several of the world’s leading competitions: First place in the Carmel International Chamber Music Competition in the United States; third prize in the 2007 Geneva Competition; fourth place in the 2010 Belgian International Clarinet Competition. In 2014 his students won the gold medal, the silver medal, the bronze medal and the excellence award at the 2014 Golden Bell Award Clarinet Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia and second place in the 2017 Italian "Saverio Mercadante" International Clarinet Competition. In the 14th Saverio Mercadante International Clarinet Competition Youth Group in 2018, three of his students won all three top prizes, noteworthy for being the first time China won all top prizes at a leading international clarinet competition. Two of his students won first prize at the annual Central Conservatory of Music Competition in 2014, 2015, and 2018. Those two students also separately won gold medals in the Youth Category of the World Clarinet Association Competition in 2019. His students have frequently been admitted with full merit-based scholarships at world-renowned music colleges like the Curtis Institute of Music, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Yale University, the Juilliard School, and others. They have gone on to excel as acclaimed performers and educators in their own right, holding positions at various universities and professional ensembles. Fan’s work as an educator has garnered him numerous awards for excellence in teaching. He won the annual Central Conservatory of Music’s Instructor Award for Innovations in Teaching for three years in a row and the Overseas Distinguished Faculty Award of the China Ministry of Education from 2010 to 2015. In 2018 and 2019, he was awarded the Golden School Emblem Award, CCOM’s highest pedagogical accolade.