Born in Ürümqi, China, pianist Qiaochuhan began her music studies as the drum major in her kindergarten marching band. Now living in Appleton, WI, she is pursuing Bachelor’s degrees in piano performance, global studies, and East Asian Studies, exploring intersections of music and cultural studies through a variety of musicking activities at Lawrence University.

Qiaochuhan holds an Accompanying Fellowship at Lawrence and collaborates extensively with her instrumental and vocal colleagues. She currently plays for the voice studio of John Gates and, in 2023, served as a rehearsal pianist for Lawrence’s Mainstage Opera production of Alcina. An avid chamber musician, Qiaochuhan performed J. S. Bach’s Concerto in A Minor for Four Harpsichords with her “Bach Bros” as a finalist at the Lawrence Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition. Other performance highlights include George Crumb’s Vox Balaenae and Antonín Dvořák’s Piano Quintet, Op. 81. Qiaochuhan’s principal music mentors include Anthony Padilla, Catherine Kautsky, Smanatha George, Wen-Lei Gu, Asiya Korepanova, Julie and Neil Freebern. 

In addition to performance, Qiaochuhan is completing an honors thesis on Giacomo Puccini’s opera Madama Butterfly. Her research examines the transformation of Madama Butterfly’s Oriental Fantasy in Mo Zhou’s recent production that reimagines the opera in post-World War II Nagasaki through the lens of Japanese war brides. 

In her free time, Qiaochuhan is an amateur violist, an alpine skier, a runner, and a coffee enthusiast.