Lin Gao joined the SCO in 2014 and is currently the Zhonghu Principal. Born in Shanghai, Lin Gao started learning the Erhu at the age of three. She was admitted into the Elementary School affiliated to the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in 1998 and studied with Lin Xinmin. Since 2007, she has been studying with Huo Yonggang at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. In 2014, she completed her Master of Arts, and graduated with several awards.

Lin Gao has toured Asia and Europe, covering various genres of music. She was invited to perform at the 67th “Prague of Spring” International Music Festival and “Sharq Taronalari” in Uzbekistan where she was awarded the First Prize.

Her interest in contemporary music has led her to be in close contact with various international modern composers and to perform several master pieces such as Chinese-French composer Tao Yu’s White Water with the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra and Joël Bons’s Green Dragon with the Dutch Nieuw Ensemble.

Lin Gao has also transposed several violin pieces into concert works for the Erhu. Her adaptations convey the same virtuosity displayed in the original versions, while making the adaptations for the Erhu, which is an instrument not accustomed to western classical music.