Avan Yu, piano

Praised for his "glittering virtuosity" (The West Australian) and "astonishing sensitivity" (La Presse), the Canadian pianist Avan Yu performs throughout Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia — at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Berlin Philharmonie, Salle Cortot in Paris, and the Sydney Opera House.

He won First Prize and nine special awards at the Sydney International Piano Competition of Australia, the Silver Medal and Audience Prize at the Paloma O'Shea Santander International Piano Competition in Spain, and the Grand Prize at the Missouri Southern International Piano Competition, where he remains the only pianist to have won both the junior and senior divisions. At seventeen he became the youngest winner of the Canadian Chopin Piano Competition.

As a concerto soloist Yu has played with the National Arts Centre Orchestra of Canada, Vancouver Symphony, Victoria Symphony, Symphony Nova Scotia, Sydney Symphony, Auckland Philharmonia, Hong Kong Philharmonic, and Dresden Philharmonic, under conductors including Jaap van Zweden, Pinchas Zukerman, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Bramwell Tovey, Christian Arming, and Juanjo Mena. He made his Hong Kong Philharmonic debut under van Zweden in 2021 and returned to open the orchestra's following season, again with van Zweden conducting. He has appeared at the Klavier-Festival Ruhr, Heidelberger Frühling, Young Euro Classic, the Bodenseefestival, and the Festival de Lanaudière, and has performed with the cellists Yo-Yo Ma and Johannes Moser.

Yu has performed Ravel's complete solo piano works in full in South Korea and Canada; a recording of the cycle is underway. His recording of Liszt's transcriptions of Schubert's Winterreise and Schwanengesang, on Naxos, was praised in Gramophone, American Record Guide, and Fono Forum. He gave the Canadian premiere of Hans Abrahamsen's Left, alone with the Esprit Orchestra under Alex Pauk.

Avan Yu studied with Horacio Gutiérrez at the Manhattan School of Music, where he took his doctorate, and with Klaus Hellwig at the Berlin University of the Arts. He is Assistant Professor of Piano at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and Artistic and Executive Director of Muzewest Concerts Society in Vancouver.