Zeng Cheng is a renowned Chinese violinist and China’s 1-tier performer. He currently serves as the concertmaster of the China Philharmonic Orchestra. He is a D'Addario artist and also a Bärenreiter artist. A versatile artist, Zeng actively appears on stage as soloist, chamber musician and concertmaster. 

In 1999, during Isaac Stern’s visit to China, Zeng Cheng attended his master class and was praised by Mr. Stern himself. He can be seen in the sequel of From Mao to Mozart. In November 2007, Zeng Cheng performed Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins in D major in the 10th Beijing Music Festival together with Nigel Kennedy. The performance was acclaimed by media “the perfect combination of rationality and passion”. In February 2012, during the China Philharmonic Orchestra’s Europe tour, Zeng Cheng played Astor Piazzolla’s Estaciones Porteñas at Dvořák Hall of the Rudolfinum in Prague and received highly commendation by native media. July 2014 saw Zeng Cheng’s performance as the concertmaster of the China Philharmonic Orchestra during its debut on BBC Proms. This Royal Albert Hall concert was widely praised by British media. In the “Silk Road Tour” of China Philharmonic Orchestra in August 2015, Zeng Cheng played The Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto as the soloist in all 7 concerts. He is heard in legendary venues including Tehran’s Roudaki Hall and Odeon of Herodes Atticus in the Acropolis of Athens. Zeng continues to play the Butterfly Lovers concerto during the China Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2016 “Tour of the Americas” and received interview by Sing Tao Daily in Los Angeles. In the recent 2018-2019 season finale of the China Philharmonic Orchestra, Zeng was invited to perform Leclair’s sonata for 2 violins with distinguished American violinist Gil Shaham in a refreshing summer night.

As a comprehensive musician, Zeng Cheng also has great achievement in the field of chamber music. His string quartet is listed in the Chamber Music Series of every music season of the China Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2012, the China Philharmonic Orchestra Principals Quartet was invited by the Ministry of Culture of China to perform in the opening ceremony of EU-China High-Level Exchanges and Dialogue Mechanisms which held in Brussels together with the string quartet from Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra as a joint string octet. Thus he became one of only a handful of Chinese musicians who have performed chamber music on a prestigious European stage.

Praised by Maestro Charles Dutoit as “an amazing concertmaster as a rare gem”, he has successfully worked with many of the leading conductors and soloists in the world, appearing in many prestigious concert halls including the Royal Albert Hall, Berlin Philharmonie, Vienna Musikverein, Amsterdam Concertgebouw and Tokyo Suntory Hall, just to name a few. He is also guest concertmaster of Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra, Qingdao Symphony Orchestra, Shaanxi Symphony Orchestra, Xi’an Symphony Orchestra and Hebei Symphony Orchestra. He was invited by West Australian Symphony Orchestra to serve as their guest concertmaster in 2015.

Zeng’s delicate and sweet sound, precise understanding of music genre and touching performances are widely praised. As a versatile violinist of so many roles as concertmaster, chamber musician and soloist, he is outstanding in the new generation of concertmasters as well as a leading figure in nowadays violinists.