About Jackie Gao
D.M.A. – University of North Texas
M.M. – Arizona State University
B.A. – China Conservatory (In Music Education)
Diploma – Central Conservatory of Music School (In Violin Performance)
Dr. Gao is a versatile violinist and educator who has performed and given lectures across Asia and the United States. Her performances have been featured on radio and TV programs in China, as well as at prestigious events such as the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) National Conference, the Summit Music Festival and the Immanuel and Helen Olshan Texas Music Festival. She has shared the stage with some of the world’s top musicians, including Itzhak Perlman, Joshua Bell, and Lang-Lang.
Dr. Gao has been a violin Teaching Assistant at Arizona State University (ASU) and Southeastern Louisiana University, a violin teacher at the Music Institute of North Texas, an advisor of the Young Artists Training Program, and a founder of the Children Dramatic Arts Program, at the National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) in Beijing. Her students have won numerous prizes in competitions, and she was awarded the Outstanding Teacher Award from the China Young Artists Competition in 2019. She has also developed and presented the Personality Development Method, a game-based instrumental teaching method for parents and children, on lecture tours in China from 2016-2019, the lecture locations, including the Art Resource Center at the NCPA.
She has joined several orchestras, including Sherman Symphony, TX, Richardson Symphony Orchestra, TX, Mobile Symphony Orchestra, AL, Gulf Coast Symphony, MS, and China Youth Symphony Orchestra (Since middle school). She was also the Assistant Concertmaster at the UNT Concert Orchestra and the principal second violin at the ASU Symphony Orchestra.
As a contributing writer for music magazines and newspapers, Dr. Gao interviews the world’s top musicians, such as Kyung Wha Chung, Aaron Rosand, Augustin Hadelich, Pinchas Zukerman’s Trio, and the formerChairman of Colombia Artists, R. Douglas Sheldon.
Currently, Dr. Gao is a Visiting Professor at the East Asian Study Institute at the University of Memphis. The research she collaborated with colleagues, including 17th Century Violin Polyphonic Music Historical and Performance Method, received the Music Research Project Funding from Sichuan Conservatory, China, in 2021.
She authored several publications, including Violin Learning from Level Zero for Kids (DVD, CN), To know about Music (CN), and Melody, Time and Me (CN). Dr. Gao is also trained in the Suzuki Method and completed “Protecting Human Research Participants” Training from The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Extramural Research in 2016.
