Ms Duan began her violin studies at the age of six. After going on to win several prizes at state competitions, she was the only violin candidate to receive simultaneous acceptance into the Sichuan Conservatory of Music in Chengdu, the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Eventually, she entered the Central Conservatory at age eleven, and studied the violin with Wang Er-yu and Professor Liu Yu-xi.

She then moved to the States to further her violin studies with eminent violin pedagogue Professor Alice Schoenfeld at the University of Southern California (USC). Yu-ling became the only violinist from California who held a seat in the first violin section in the Disney Grammy Collegiate Orchestra. Upon returning to Los Angeles, she was invited to lead the South Bay Opera Orchestra in the capacity of Concertmaster, and was also appointed Assistant Leader of the Youth Musician Foundation’s Debut Orchestra, and the American Youth Symphony Orchestra.

Yu-ling has performed under the baton of esteemed conductors and shared the stage with distinguished musicians, namely Zubin Mehta, Elmer Bernstein and John Williams amongst others. She attended the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival in Germany on a full scholarship and went on to perform with Christoph Eschenbach, Mstislav Rostropovich and Vladimir Spivakov.

In 2000, Yuling received an Assistantship from USC, won First Prize in the Competition for Excellence in Diversity held in Los Angeles and was invited to perform with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl.

She eventually moved to Singapore where she successfully auditioned for a seat in the first violin section of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO).

Aside from being a full-time musician at the SSO, Yuling was invited to be a lecturer in the School of Young Talent (SYT) division of at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA). Eventually, she was offered the position of Head of String at SYT and coached the violin sections of the Singapore Chinese Girls’ School String Ensemble as well as the Symphonic Orchestra at the National University of Singapore. In 2003, she was invited by SSO Music Director, Lan Shui, to perform as a soloist at the then-new Esplanade Concert Hall.

Serving as Head of Strings, her veritable experience on stage and in the classroom inspires a culture of striving for excellence in string pedagogy at our school.