Peijun Xu

Born in Shanghai, China, Peijun started her musical education at the age of four and studied violin with Yao Shimei, a first violinist from the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. After graduating from Shanghai Normal University and working five years in the tourism industry, Peijun decided to study music full-time in the United States.  In fall 2016 Peijun began the program for a master’s degree of Music Education (M.M. Instrumental Emphasis) at Azusa Pacific University (APU) under the guidance of Dr. John Burdett, the Director of the APU Music Education Department.  With four years of practicing, rehearsing and performing in orchestras (encouraged by Robert Sage and Ruth Charloff, conductors of the Claremont Symphony Orchestra, and Christopher Russell, conductor of the APU Symphony Orchestra) and attending violin and viola classes in the APU studio of Dr. Alex Russell, Peijun became a candidate for the Artist Certificate program at APU to pursue further professional performing skills in violin and viola.  In 2020 Peijun completed two violin recitals and one viola recital in two years, earning the first Artist Certificate in Combined Violin and Viola Performance in APU’s history. She was also a violist in the APU Symphony Orchestra and Azusa String Quartet. In Fall 2019 the Azusa String Quartet was selected to participate in the chamber music masterclass held by the legendary Glenn Dicterow, who was the former concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic. In Summer 2020 Peijun was awarded the Apprenticeship position in viola for the MasterWorks Festival 2020 Program, which requires “the most well-qualified and responsible applicants with significant education, performance and leadership experience.” During the MasterWorks Festival 2020, she was under the tutelage of Lisa Boyko, a violist of the Cleveland Orchestra, Peijun was selected to perform Dvorak Piano Quintet in A Major for a masterclass conducted by Ken-David Masur, the world-renowned conductor.

In Spring 2021, Peijun won the First Prize for the Viola Section (age 25 and up), at the Charleston International Music Competition, and the First Place for the Viola Section (age 23 and up), at the King’s Peak International Music Competition, surpassing the other finalists who were from Australia, China, Poland, Turkey, Spain, and the United States. Peijun plays a 16-inch G. Amati 1625 model viola made by American luthier Michael Griffin in 2020. Peijun also received additional viola and violin guidance from Shen Xidi and Ding Zhinuo. In 2018 Peijun was invited to publish two Chinese articles, titled “The K- 12 Music Education system in the United States,” in the Music Education column of Music Lover Magazine, one of the most influential classical music publications in China, and she became one of the authors of the Music Education column. Since 2010, she has traveled in Asia and the Pacific every year and has been invited to Japan, Australia and the United States to participate in various symphony concerts and music festivals.

Additionally, Peijun, a co-founder of MAP (a non-profit organization named Marker and Pioneer International Culture Exchange Center), is the executive director who organized and ran the Los Angeles Young Virtuosos International Music Festival in 2018 (LAYVIMF 2018), the California International Music Festival & Music Education Conference in 2019 (CIMFEC 2019) and the APU Faculty Trio China Tour 2019. Peijun is also a member of ASTA (American String Teachers Association) and holds a Teaching Certificate for Violin issued by the Shanghai Musicians Association. She has more than seven years of coaching experience in youth orchestras including the Claremont Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Foothill Christian Legacy Youth Orchestra teaching orchestral skills to young musicians. Her violin and viola students have won honors achievements in The American String Teachers Association Certificate Advancement Program (ASTACAP) for several years, and some of them have been accepted into youth orchestras such as the Los Angeles Youth Philharmonic and Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra.

You can find Peijun’s 2021 Spring Music Competition performance here.

You can find Peijun’s 2021 Talent Show Competition performance here.