Jessica Zhu

Last updated

Jessica Zhu (born October 22, 1986) is a Chinese-American pianist who is currently undertaking a doctorate in musical arts (DMA) under the supervision of Paul Roberts and Caroline Rae at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, in London. She previously received a Master in Performance (MPerf) and an Artist Diploma with distinction from the Guildhall, where she studied with full scholarship as a 2009 Marshall Scholar. [1]

Contents

Early life and education

Zhu was born in Shanghai, China, where she began her musical study.

At age 11, she moved with her family to Sugar Land, Texas, near Houston, where she studied piano for six years with John Weems. [2] After graduating Stephen F. Austin High School in Sugar Land, she completed her undergraduate studies in 2009 summa cum laude from the University of Houston (Moores School of Music), where she studied with renowned pianist-pedagogue Nancy Weems.

Zhu has been invited to participate in master classes of pianists such as Pascal Rogé, Angela Hewitt, Anton Kuerti, Stanislav Ioudenitch, Antonio Pompa-Baldi, Peter Frankl, Abbey Simon, Yoheved Kaplinsky, and Nelita True.

Concerts and performances

Zhu made her debut at age 19 in 2006 with the Houston Symphony in Jones Hall. [3] She gave her debut recital in Zilkha Hall of the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Houston.

She has soloed with numerous orchestras, including the Clear Lake Symphony, the Irving Symphony in Dallas, Fort Worth Civic Symphony, Brazos Valley Symphony in College Station, the Moores School Symphony Orchestra, and the Houston Civic Symphony.

In April 2010, Zhu performed with the Worthing Symphony Orchestra in Sussex, England, under the baton of John Gibbons. A frequent guest recitalist, she has been invited to perform for the National Conference on Piano Pedagogy in Chicago in July 2009.

Zhu has also performed recitals for the Rockport Performing Arts Series in Rockport, Texas, the San Antonio Tuesday Musical Club, Missouri State University Fite Family Music Festival Young Artist Series, the McKinney Musical Arts Society in Dallas, the Wichita Falls Symphony League's First Night in the Falls Arts Festival.

Zhu has also performed at the Texas Music Festival, Aspen Summer Festival in Colorado and the Banff Arts Centre in Canada. She has been featured on ABC Television Network KTRK Channel-13 Visions program and KUHF 88.7 FM radio The Front Row arts magazine.

Competitions and prizes

Related Research Articles

Petronel Malan, born in Pretoria, South Africa is a South African concert pianist based in the United States.

Yeol Eum Son is a world renowned South Korean classical pianist. She is an interpreter of the Classical era of composers, especially Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, as well as such later composers as Mendelssohn, Schumann, Liszt, Rachmaninoff and Ravel. Over the past fifteen years, Son has achieved global acclaim for her performances of Mozart’s piano concertos.

Abigail Sin Si Ern is a Singaporean concert pianist. She was hailed by Time Asia magazine as a bona fide prodigy and one of Asia's "Small Wonders" when she was ten years old.

Horacio Gutiérrez is a Cuban-American classical pianist known for his performances of works in the Romantic Repertoire.

Fredell Lack was an American violinist. Noted as a concert soloist, recording artist, chamber musician, and teacher, she was the C. W. Moores Distinguished Professor of Violin at the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston in Houston, Texas.

Roger Robinson "Trey" Wright III is an American classical concert pianist. He is also a Scrabble player who won the United States National Scrabble Championship in 2004.

Donald Lucas is a trombone artist and educator. He is an associate professor and Brass, Woodwind & Percussion department chair at the Boston University School of Music and served as president of the International Trombone Association.

José Feghali was a Brazilian pianist, who, until his death, was an Artist-in-Residence at Texas Christian University's school of music in piano. He was the gold medalist winner of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 1985.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yoonjung Han</span>

Yoonjung "Yoonie" Han is a South Korean-born American classical pianist.

Di Wu is a Chinese-American pianist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlie Albright</span> American pianist and composer

Charlie Albright is an American pianist and composer. He is an official Steinway Artist, 2014 Avery Fisher Career Grant Recipient, 2010 Gilmore Young Artist (2010) and former Young Concert Artist. He graduated from Harvard College (AB) and the New England Conservatory (MM) as the first classical pianist in the schools' five-year AB/MM Joint Program, was named the Leverett House Artist in Residence for 2011–2012, and was one of the 15 Most Interesting Seniors of the Harvard College Class of 2011. He graduated from the Juilliard School of Music with his post-graduate Artist Diploma (AD) in 2014.

Aglaia Koras is a Greek-American pianist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anna Fedorova</span> Ukrainian musician (born 1990)

Anna Borysivna Fedorova is a Ukrainian concert pianist. Fedorova performs as soloist, chamber musician and with symphony orchestras in the major concert halls of the Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy, UK, Ukraine, Poland, the US, Mexico, Argentina, and parts of Asia. Fedorova is a David Young Piano Prize Holder supported by a Soiree d'Or Award and Keyboard Trust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ang Li (pianist)</span>

Ang Li is a classical pianist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yekwon Sunwoo</span> South Korean pianist (born 1989)

Yekwon Sunwoo is a South Korean classical pianist. In 2017, at 28 years old, Sunwoo was the first Korean to win the gold medal at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. He won the Sendai International Music Competition in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenneth Broberg</span> American classical pianist (born 1993)

Kenneth (Kenny) Broberg is an American classical pianist. In June 2017 he won the silver medal at the Fifteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. In June 2019 Broberg earned the third prize and bronze medal at The XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition. In June 2021 he won the American Piano Awards.

Alexandra Ioana Dariescu is a Romanian British classical concert pianist, educator, mentor and producer. She is best known for her multimedia project The Nutcracker and I and her focus on promoting the works of female composers.

Tiffany Poon is a Hong Kong-born American classical pianist and vlogger, residing in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lora Dimitrova</span> Bulgarian classical pianist, teacher and leader in music education (born 1962)

Lora Dimitrova is a Bulgarian classical pianist, teacher and leader in music education. She lives in the United Kingdom.

John Owings is an American pianist and educator. He was the Herndon Professor of Music and Chair of the Piano Division at Texas Christian University.

References

  1. List of the 2009 Marchall Scholars
  2. Electrifying: London’s new concert pianist star Jessica Zhu by James Brewer. GlobalNewsBox.com, 20 September 2011. Retrieved 2012-06-19.
  3. 1 2 "Jessica Zhu @ PIANO WEEK". PIANO WEEK International Festival & Summer School. 5 May 2020. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  4. "A 'thrilling' finale is assured in Worthing", Shoreham Herald, 10 April 2010 (see article)