Contestant

Pianist Jialin Yao has been hailed for his “mature, sensitive and polished playing with serious attitude towards music making and a strong mindset for interpretive details” (Dmitri Alexeev), and he is increasingly recognized for his “natural musicianship as well as his very sophisticated technical skills” (Michel Béroff). His love of bringing warmth, passion, and magic to audiences has led to performances throughout North America, Asia, and Europe. Being a multi-dimensional musician, Jialin Yao not only appears on the stage as a chamber musician and collaborator, but is also committed to piano teaching. Currently, he is serving as secondary piano course teacher and college staff pianist at the Juilliard School. He is a firm believer that the most moving music can only come from the most open-hearted and truthful human beings.

As a soloist, Jialin Yao is an avid interpreter of a wide range of repertoire. He has performed piano concertos with the Wuhan Philharmonic orchestra, and Orchestra Academia China, among others. In last season, he performed Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No.3 with Italy Friuli Venezia Giulia Orchestra conducted by Maestro Paolo Paroni at Zancanaro Theatre in Italy. He also performed Mingxin Du’s Piano Concerto No.1 ‘The Elegance of Spring’ with En Shao and Orchestra Academia China in Peking University Hall, which was praised by the composer for Jialin Yao’s ability to bring fresh energy and liveliness to the piece. In the same season, he also performed Mozart’s No.21 Piano Concerto in C K.467 with En Shao and Orchestra Academia China for members of the National Committee in the great hall of China Conservatory, which turned out to be a great success and won tremendous acclaim. In 2018, as a distinguished artist of KNS Classical, Jialin Yao released his first album, Campanella, featuring works including Beethoven, Liszt, Scriabin, Ravel, and Kapustin.

Jialin Yao has been a Prize-winner in numerous competitions such as the Friuli Venezia Giulia International Piano Competition, the Teresa Carreño Master Piano Competition, IKOF International Piano Competition, the Singapore International Piano Competition, the Steinway National Competition, the Shigeru Kawai International Piano Competition, the Santa Cecilia International Piano Competition, and many others. Jialin Yao has been invited to perform at today’s most prestigious music festivals such as PianoFest in New York and Verbier Festival in Switzerland.