Diyang Mei new guest professor for viola
In the summer semester of 2023, the Chinese violist and first solo violist of the Berlin Philharmonic Diyang Mei will take up a guest professorship at the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin.
Mei studied at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing as a child. He initially played the violin before switching to the viola at the age of 10. In 2014, he continued his training in Germany at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich and at the Kronberg Academy.
Diyang Mei is a first prize winner at several high-profile international competitions, including the ARD International Music Competition, the 52nd International Instrumental Competition for Viola in Markneukirchen, the Max Rostal International Music Competition for Viola in Berlin, the Kulturkreis Gasteig Music Prize for Strings in Munich, the 19th International Brahms Music Competition for Viola in Austria, the IVC Young Artist Competition in Rochester and the 10th International Viola and Violoncello Competition in Villa de Llanes, Spain.
As a soloist, Diyang Mei has performed with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the SWR Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Munich Symphony Orchestra, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, as well as at the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the Schwetzinger SWR Festspiele, the Schwarzwald Musikfestival and the Mozartfest in Würzburg, among others.
In 2019 Diyang Mei obtained a position as principal violist with the Munich Philharmonic. In 2022 he moved to the Berlin Philharmonic in the same position.
At the Eisler, Diyang Mei now teaches his own class on an interim basis following the departure of Tabea Zimmermann as viola professor.