Zhang Zuo (pianist)

Born in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province of China, Zuo went to Germany to start her musical training at the age of 5.[2] She enrolled at the Shenzhen Arts School at the age of 7, and began studying with Dan Zhaoyi, a famous Chinese piano educator and professor.[3] At the age of 8, she began winning competitions and gave her first concerto performance.[4] It was then she performed the Haydn's Piano Concerto No. 11 in D major with the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra. At the age of 10, she gave her first solo concert in Shenzhen and became a representative of the Chinese piano community.[5]

After completing her piano studies with Dan Zhaoyii at the Shenzhen Arts School, Zuo was invited to continue her artistic development in 2006 in the United States, where she attended the University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music under the mentorship of Nelita True for her bachelor's degree.[6] Later, she completed her master's degree at the Juilliard School, where she studied with Robert McDonald and Yoheved Kaplinsky.[7] In 2014, Zuo was selected to join BBC's flagship New Generation Artist (NGA) program in the UK for two seasons.[8] She has also performed with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under Paavo Järvi in Mendelssohn's first piano concerto,[9] as well as at the Ravinia Festival. In the autumn of 2014, Zuo went on a recital tour through Italy with violinist Julian Rachlin and cellist Lynn Harrell.[10]

On February 7, 2023 IMG Artists announced Zuo joined their roster for general management, represented by Iris Yuan from London.[11][12]

Zuo's playing is described as "full of enthusiasm and glamour, radiating the vigor of youth" (Chinese Gramophone),[13]

Zuo has performed with many world-renowned orchestras[14][15] in China and abroad, including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, the National Orchestra of Belgium, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Tenerife Symphony Orchestra, Lübeck Symphony Orchestra, Neue Philharmonie, Kharkov Philharmonic, Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie, Macau Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, Beijing Symphony Orchestra, Guangzhou Philharmonic, and the Shenzhen Philharmonic, etc. She has worked with leading conductors including Paavo Järvi, Marin Alsop, and Yan Pascal Tortelier, and has appeared at many of the world's most prestigious venues, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, and the Grand Hall of the Moscow State Conservatory, Salle Cortot in Paris, and Moscow's Bolshoi Hall.

Zuo has won many awards, among which include first prizes in the American Gina Bachauer International Young Artists Piano Competition (2000), the Ukraine Krainev International Piano Competition for Young Pianists (2002), top prizes from the 3rd Shanghai International Piano Competition (2005), the 7th International Franz Liszt Piano Competition (2005), first prizes at China's 1st International Piano Concerto Competition (2006), a Vendome Virtuoso award from Vendome Prize competition, the youngest laureate in the 2010 Gina Bachauer Artists Piano Competition, the Petschek Piano Award at the Juilliard School (2013), as well as the 5th prize at the 2013 Queen Elisabeth International Piano Competition in the Brussels, etc.[16]

• Official website