Violinist Jessica Dan Fan has been a member of the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra since 2002. A versatile musician, she is an active soloist, educator, and performer in both chamber and orchestral settings. A native of China, she was admitted at age 10 to the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Ms. Fan holds degrees from the Central Conservatory of Music, the University of Miami School of Music, and the University of Maryland, where she studied under the guidance of renowned violinist Arnold Steinhardt.

Her musical mentors include Joseph Silverstein, Ruggiero Ricci, Bill Stack, and John Daley. In addition to her performing career, Ms. Fan is on the faculty of the NSO Youth Fellowship, the NSO Summer Music Institute, and the Sewanee Summer Music Festival, while maintaining a robust private teaching studio.

From 1997 to 2001, Ms. Fan made history as the first Asian musician in the United States Air Force Strings, performing for Presidents Clinton and Bush, as well as numerous foreign dignitaries. She was also the featured soloist on the ensemble’s album Wintertime.

Ms. Fan frequently performs with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts. She is also a member of the Global Chinese Symphony Orchestra, which performs annually at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing.

As a chamber musician, she is a regular performer on the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage and the Washington D.C. Embassy Concert Series. She also gives solo recitals and master classes throughout China. Throughout her career, she has had the honor of performing under the batons of Sir Georg Solti, Andre Previn, Michael Tilson Thomas, Placido Domingo and Valery Gergiev, among others.

Ms. Fan performs on a Neapolitan violin made by Francesco Versella in 1880.