Hailed as a “promising young musician” by WQXR, the 26-year-old pianist Qinghong Lian has appeared on the stages of international piano competitions including the MTNA Steinway Young Artist Piano Competition and the New York International Piano Competition where he claimed the Finalist Award. Other notable appearances include Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Chappaqua Orchestra under Russell Ger, and Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Manhattan School of Music Philharmonic Orchestra under Maestro Jonathan Strasser. Qinghong is an avid chamber musician as a regular fixture on the artist rosters of the Josef Gingold Chamber Music Festival, the Puerto Rico International Piano and String Festival, and the Princeton Festival. In 2022, he won the Lilian Fuchs Chamber Music Competition with a unique production of Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat; alongside violinist Tara Pagano-Toub and clarinetist Spencer Reese, Qinghong co-adapted the theatrical work into a trio arrangement where the musicians performed all the original roles. Recently named the Piano Fellow at the 2026 Sarasota Music Festival, Qinghong will be mentored by Robert Levin and Teng Li, appearing alongside them in performances at the Beatrice Friedman Symphony Center.

Beyond the stage, Qinghong is a dedicated educator. He previously served as the Music Director of the Florentine School in New York City, where he launched a series of free chamber music salons for the Chinatown/TriBeCa community and curated the school’s 75th Anniversary Gala at Carnegie Hall. He currently serves on the piano staff at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Newton Public Schools. His students have won awards at the Henle (Germany) and the Piano Stars (U.S.) piano competitions.

Born in Fuzhou and raised in Beijing, Qinghong was accepted into the Central Conservatory of Music at age nine. In 2014, he received the Constance Keene Piano Scholarship to attend the Manhattan School of Music Precollege and completed his bachelor degree there with Jeffrey Cohen, alongside delving into chamber music with Lucie Robert, Mark Steinberg, Curtis Macomber, and William Wolfram. He later pursued graduate studies at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University with Artistic Excellence Award, where he was the final student of Yong-Hi Moon.

Qinghong also enjoys his multi-faced artistic career that expands into the field of fashion photography. A laureate of the 2022 Palm* Photo Award and the 2018 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, he was soon recognized by renowned fashion houses as Chloé, Gucci, Sandro and Coach. His photographs have been exhibited at the Uris Center of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and 10 14 Gallery in London. Qinghong currently lives in Boston with his 7-year-old schnoodle, Charli, while being an enthusiast for harpsichord, coffee and CrossFit.