Ran Jia Biography

At eighteen, pianist Ran Jia is already regarded as a striking musician with unusual natural abilities.
Tan Dun hailed her a “piano poet with dramatic skill in music-making”.

Born on December 31, 1988 in Chengdu, Sichuan, China, Ms. Jia began studying piano at the age of
three. She made her solo debut in 1995, and has since performed publicly in Shanghai, Nanjing,
Chengdu, Fuzhou, and Xiamen in China. Her numerous awards include The Special Prize for her
performance of a Mozart Sonata in the Second Piano International-E-Competition in 2004; the Silver
Medal in The National Cultural Ministry Dandelion Youth Arts Competition in Nanjing, China in 2001;
First Prize and the Osaka Mayer Prize in the Shanghai-Osaka Chinese and Japanese Friendship
Youth Piano Competition in 2000; First Prize in The Sichuan Youth Piano Competition in 1998; and
Second Prize in The National Xinghai Cup Piano Competition in 1998.

In October 2001, Ms. Jia performed Mozart’s Sonata in F major (K. 533) at a master class at the
Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Piano master Fou T’song praised her talent in the Evening News
Standard in Shanghai as “an amazing natural feeling for music.” In May 2004, Ms. Jia presented an
ambitious recital at the Heluting Concert Hall at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. The program
included sonatas by Mozart, Prokofiev, and Schubert, Chopin’s Ballade No. 1, Debussy’s Preludes
and Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz No. 1. Her recital was received with great enthusiasm by the audience
and the media. Oriental TV broadcasted two documentaries featuring Ran’s life as a young artist
including her live performance at the Conservatory.

In November 2005, Ms. Jia was selected to perform at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall with her
teacher, Gary Graffman, and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at a “Junior/Senior Concert” organized by
the Musicians Emergency Fund, Inc. Ms. Jia performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major,
K. 467 under Mr. Li Jian. Highlights of 2006 included a return, sold-out concert at the Shanghai
Conservatory of Music, and a performance of two Mozart concerti with the Shanghai Philharmonic
Orchestra at the Shanghai Concert Hall.

Ran Jia is currently studying with Gary Graffman at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Her
father, Professor Daqun Jia, is one of the leading composers in China and Dean of the Graduate
Study Programs at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.