An exceptional musician renowned for her fluid technique, gorgeous tone, and brilliantly expressive performances, Hai-Ye Ni enjoys a distinguished career as principal cellist of the Philadelphia Orchestra and as a sought-after soloist and chamber musician. Praised by the press as “soulfully expressive” (Washington Post), Ni has appeared as soloist with orchestras such as the Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, and Vienna Chamber Orchestra. Her recital credits include the Kennedy Center, Smithsonian Institute, and Alice Tully Hall. She has collaborated with pianists Jeffrey Kahane, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and Yefim Bronfman, and violinists Joshua Bell, Gil Shaham, and Leonidas Kavakos. Among her festival credits are Ravinia Festival, Marlboro Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Spoleto Festival, and Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival. Ni has performed the Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations, the Brahms “Double” Concerto, Beethoven’s “Triple” Concerto, and John Williams’s Memoirs of a Geisha with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Prior highlights include a Baroque concerti program as soloist and conductor with the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra, and the Tchaikovsky trio with Lang Lang at Carnegie Hall. She has recorded a solo CD on Naxos and a chamber CD Spirit of Chimes on Delos. Ni won the prestigious Naumburg International Cello Competition in 1990. Other awards include first prize in the 1996 International Paulo Cello Competition in Finland, and second prize in the 1997 Rostropovich Competition. She was associate principal cellist of the New York Philharmonic from 1999 to 2006. Ni has been featured on ABC’s “20/20,” on NPR, and in The Strad magazine. She has given masterclasses at Curtis, Manhattan School, and Shanghai and Beijing Conservatories. She served on the jury of the fifth Paulo International Cello Competition in 2013 and the Naumburg Competition. She began her study with her mother and at the Shanghai Conservatory. She also studied at the San Francisco Conservatory and the Juilliard School. This is her first appearance at PMF.