CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA MUSICIANS' PERFORMANCE AND TOUR - JANUARY 11, 2025
Please join us for an exclusive performance by three talented musicians from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Qing Hou P28, Larry Neuman P28, and Lei Hou) performing with a current Princeton Student (Maurice Neuman '28). Following the performance, engage in a lively Q&A session with the musicians. Gain insights into the CSO, their artistry, and the life of a professional musician.
We will then walk one block to Symphony Center for a guided tour, where you'll explore the rich history and architectural beauty of this iconic venue. This is a rare and exciting opportunity to enjoy world-class music in an intimate setting.
This experience is limited to 100 guests. RSVP below. Free for PCC members; non-members $10.
Saturday, January 11, 2025
3:00 - 5:30 pm
Meet at 310 S Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL then we go to Symphony Center at 220 S Michigan.
Click HERE to RSVP - SPACE IS LIMITED TO 100
FREE for PCC Members, $10 for Non-Members

Not yet a member? CLICK HERE to Join PCC now and receive PCC Member priority reservation, member pricing, and to support Princeton events and service opportunities in our Chicagoland community. Membership is FREE for the Classes of '23-'24 and *23-*24, but you must join. Membership starts at only $25/year for first-time members, graduate and undergraduate alumni classes of 2020-2022, and parents of current students/alumni.

Qing Hou P28 has been a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since 1997. Before joining the Chicago Symphony, she was a member of the San Francisco Symphony. An avid chamber musician, she has performed at the Manchester Music Festival, Music in the Vineyards, El Paso Pro Musica, ChamberFest Brown County, Token Creek Chamber Music Festival, Chamber Music Quad Cities, and has performed with Mistral Music (Boston) for several years. Chamber music collaborators have included such artists as Pinchas Zukerman, Daniel Barenboim, and Yefim Bronfman. Qing has also toured Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, and Luxembourg with musicians from the German Radio Philharmonie Orchestra Saarbrücken. In 1997, she founded the Lincoln String Quartet with three other CSO colleagues (including her sister Lei Hou, and Lawrence Neuman, who is now her husband). The quartet has been featured many times in performances at the Northwestern University Winter Chamber Music Festival, on WFMT radio, and at venues all around Chicago. In addition, the quartet has performed twice in Santiago, Chile as part of the Beethoven Foundation concert series.
In the fall of 2003, Qing made her debut as soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim.
A native of China, Hou studied at the Central Conservatory in Beijing before coming to the United States in 1988 to continue her studies. She holds degrees from the Peabody Conservatory and the New England Conservatory.
Qing is an Artist Faculty at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University.
Lawrence Neuman P28 has been a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since 1991. Before coming to Chicago he was violist with the Miami String Quartet. As a chamber musician he frequently is heard throughout the Chicago area and has performed across the United States and in Europe. He has appeared at festivals and chamber music series in Boston, Marlboro, La Jolla, Madison, Napa, Portland and Davenport. Chamber music collaborators have included such artists as Daniel Barenboim, Pinchas Zukerman, Yefim Bronfman, Lydia Artymiw, Gil Shaham and Aaron Rosand.
During the 1998-99 season Neuman took a leave of absence from the CSO to serve as principal viola of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. For several years he has taught viola and chamber music at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University.
A native of Saint Louis, Missouri, Neuman attended the Eastman School of Music, the University of Southern California and the Cleveland Institute of Music, and he was a student of Heidi Castleman, Donald McInnes and Robert Vernon.
Lei Hou was appointed by Daniel Barenboim to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1997. She previously was a member of the first violin section of the Cleveland Orchestra and served as assistant principal second violin of the National Symphony Orchestra for six years, appointed by Mstislav Rostropovich. As an active chamber musician and soloist, Hou has performed with Pinchas Zukerman, Yefim Bronfman and members of the Guarneri and Alban Berg quartets. She also toured Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland and Luxembourg with musicians from the German Radio Orchestra.
Hou is a former member of the Manchester String Quartet of Washington, D.C. She has been a featured soloist in concerts broadcast on National Public Radio, WFMT-FM Chicago, and WBJC-FM Baltimore, and she has recorded chamber music by Mozart, Hoffmeister and Beethoven for German radio. She also has served on the faculties of the University of Maryland and Den Nye Opera Academy (now Bergen National Opera) in Norway and given master classes at Seoul National University, Korea National University of Arts and the Central Conservatory of Music and Middle School in Beijing.
Hou studied at Shanghai’s Middle School of Music and Conservatory of Music and at the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University. Her festival experience includes performances at the Marlboro, Tanglewood, Sun City and Western Maryland music festivals; the Sun Valley Summer Symphony; and the Ravinia Festival’s Steans Music Institute. She frequently performs with the Lincoln Quartet, with which she has toured South America.
Lei Hou shares the stage with her sister Qing, who also is a violinist with the CSO.
Maurice Neuman '28, cellist, is a first year undergrad at Princeton University. A student at the University of Chicago’s Laboratory Schools, he started learning to play cello at age 3, and piano at age 4. In his last two years of high school, he studied cello with Professor Hans Jørgen Jensen at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music.
Maurice twice earned the position of principal cellist in the top orchestra of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras, and was appointed principal cellist of the 2023 ILMEA All-State Honors Orchestra.
As the winner of several concerto competitions in the Chicago area, Maurice has performed as soloist with the Oistrach Symphony of Chicago, the Lakeview Orchestra, and the Northwest Symphony Orchestra. Maurice was 1st Prize Winner of the 2023 George Gershwin International Music Competition, Young Artist Division; First Prize Winner of the 2023 19th Century Charleston International Music Competition; Grand Prize 2nd Place Winner of the Chicago International Music Competition, Rising Star Division; and has earned honorable mentions at the 2022 Walgreens National Concerto Competition and the 2023 Chicago Symphony Orchestra Crain-Maling Foundation Young Artists Competition, among others.
For several summers, Maurice attended Greenwood Music Camp in Massachussetts. In August of 2024 he performed in chamber music at ChamberFest Brown County, a professional festival in Indiana. Maurice has also been featured in two performances on WQXR, New York’s Classical Music Radio Station.
At Princeton, Maurice is planning on studying economics and music performance. He is a member of the Princeton University Orchestra, the Princeton Nassoons (Princeton’s oldest a capella singing group), the chamber music program, and the cello ensemble “La Vie en Cello”. Maurice is also a member of the club tennis team.