Oboe professor Zhe Cheng plays a wide range of repertoire as a virtuoso concert oboist, chamber musician, and orchestral player across Europe, Asia, and the United States. He is an award-winning teacher and founder of a double reed ensemble.
As an active oboe player, Cheng premiered numerous contemporary oboe pieces such as “Trace III for solo oboe” (2011) and “Two birds in a cage for oboe and English horn” (2012) by Deqing Wen and “Melody No.2” by Musheng Chen (2012).
In 2014, he was invited as a soloist by Shanghai New Music Week to play Qigang Chen’s oboe concerto “Extase” with the Shanghai Soloist Sinfonia. The performance was a big success and was met with great favor by both the composer and the audience.
In 2016, broadcasting live on the Shanghai Art TV Channel, he performed the oboe concerto “Paysage d’Hiver” by Shuya Xu with Shanghai Symphony Orchestra.
He also played concertos from Vivaldi, Bach, Marcello, and other composers with many orchestras. Cheng is a member of Asian New Music Group. Together with fellow musicians, he has brought a great deal of modern music to Chinese audiences.
Cheng was the guest principal oboe in orchestras such as the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Shanghai Opera house. He has performed in music festivals including IDRS, ADRA, Shanghai New Music Weeks, Shanghai Spring Festival, and the Qingdao International Oboe Festival.
Before joining the Double Reed faculty in 2018, Cheng served the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and its secondary school for 11 years. He was awarded the Excellent Teaching Prize by the Asian Double Reed Association. One of his students was the first prize winner of the ADRA International Oboe Competition at the senior division. Some of his other students won prizes such as the first prize of chamber music, third prize of oboe at Hong Kong International Music Festival, and many others. Cheng has been invited to give master classes in New York City, Hong Kong, and Beijing. He is co-founder of the Shanghai Oboe Town Double Reed Ensemble. He has organized tours and built an outstanding reputation for the group.
Cheng received a Diplôme Supérieur de Concertiste and Diplôme Supérieur de Musique de Chambre with a unanimous vote in 2007 at École Normale de Musique in Paris. His principal teachers were Pierre-Christophe Brilloit, Minghong Sun, and Huaqing Hu. He also studied with Jacques Tys, Jean-Claude Jaboulay, Michel Giboureau, and many other oboists.