Sunday, January 26, 2020
Heralded as “dazzling,” and “displaying his own versatility and exquisite control of his instrument” by Butler Eagle, and “imaginative and masterful” by Taicang Daily, Chinese-American pianist and Steinway Artist Alvin Zhu is recognized internationally for insightful, engaging and emotionally penetrative playing. His artistry has led to acclaimed performances throughout four continents including North America, Asia, Europe and Australia.
As an orchestral soloist, Zhu has given performances of Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Gershwin, and Rachmaninoff concertos with renowned orchestras in the United States, Canada and Asia. Recent highlights include Mozart’s Piano Concerto in d minor K. 466 with Maestro Yongyan Hu and the Baotou Symphony Orchestra at the Baotou Grand Theatre in Inner Mongolia and with Maestro Grant Cooper and the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra; Mozart’s Concerto in C Major K. 467 with Maestro Rossen Milanov and the Chautauqua Symphony at the Chautauqua Amphitheater, and Beethoven’s “Emperor” Piano Concerto with Maestro Hu and the EOS Symphony at the Beijing Concert Hall.
Frequent recitalist and chamber musician, Zhu has appeared in prestigious venues including New York’s Alice Tully and Steinway Halls; Australia’s Sydney Opera House; China’s Beijing Concert Hall, Forbidden City Concert Hall, Central Conservatory of Music Concert Hall, National Center for the Performing Arts, Tianjin, Hunan, Foshan, and Taicang Grand Theatres; Taiwan’s Soochow University; Montreal’s Palais du Congress; Italy’s Rome Stadio Olimpico; and numerous series across the United States including the “Steinway Piano Series” for the Steinway Society of Western Pennsylvania; “Music for Morales” in New Mexico; “Rising Stars Piano Series” at Texas State University; “PianoForte Foundation Series” in Chicago; “New Music New Haven Series” at Yale University; and “Eureka Chamber Music Series” in California. Notable appearances at summer festivals include Beijing Modern Music Festival, Juilliard’s “Focus! Festival,” Aspen Music Festival in Colorado, Music Academy of the West in California, Chautauqua Institution in New York, Texas State International Piano Festival in San Marcos, and the Tsingtao International Music Festival in China. Zhu is also a Steinway SPIRIO™ recording artist and has been featured on radio shows and television including NPR’s “From the Top” as a Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist, Pittsburgh’s Classical WQED, and China Central Television (CCTV).
As a worldwide scholar and educator, Zhu has given masterclasses and lectures at China’s Steinway Hall Shanghai, Suzhou, Wuxi, and Beijing; Central Conservatory of Music; Beijing-American Center at the United States Embassy; Hunan Grand Theatre in Changsha; Taicang Cultural Center in Taicang; Open College-Conservatory in Foshan; Canada’s Li Delun Foundation and the Steinway Gallery of Toronto; Pennsylvania’s Carnegie Mellon and Slippery Rock Universities in Pittsburgh; New York’s Juilliard School in Manhattan; and Connecticut’s Yale University in New Haven. Zhu, a recipient of the prestigious Fulbright Research Scholarship in 2017 as a “Foreign Expert Researcher” at the Central Conservatory of Music, has undertaken the first biography of his late-grandfather Zhu Gong Yi, a master pianist, pedagogue, and former Chair of the Piano Department at CCOM, whose influence and contributions have shaped music education in China ever since the 1940s. Aside from performances and lectures across Asia, Zhu has also served on the jury for the 1st Franz Liszt International Youth Piano Competition in China (Changsha) in 2018, the 2019 Metropolitan International Piano Competition in New York City, the 2019 Steinway Youth Competition in Toronto, and the 2019 Franz Liszt International Youth Piano Competition (Shanghai).
Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to a family and legacy of renowned musicians, Zhu began piano studies with his grandmother and mother at age four, and violin and viola studies with his father at age five. At age ten, he studied with Yeeha Chiu before attending the Juilliard School in 2009. A graduate of Juilliard’s Five-year BM/MM Accelerated Program with Dr. Yoheved Kaplinsky in 2014, Zhu went on to further studies after being awarded the distinguished C.V. Starr Foundation Doctoral Scholarship at Juilliard, attaining his Doctorate of Musical Arts (DMA) degree in 2019 under the tutelage of Dr. Kaplinsky and Professor Julian Martin. Currently, he is the youngest professor in the inaugural faculty roster of the Tianjin Juilliard School — Juilliard’s first branch campus — specializing in solo piano, chamber music and music history in the Pre-college and Graduate divisions.
