JIALIN.YAO 要佳林
piano

Pianist Jialin Yao, winner of the 2024 Fou Ts’ong International Concerto Competition, 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). 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. He served as a 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.

Jialin Yao has been a prize winner in numerous competitions such as Málaga City International Piano Competition, Friuli Venezia Giulia International Piano Competition, Teresa Carreño Master Piano Competition, IKOF International Piano Competition, Singapore International Piano Competition, Steinway Piano Competition, Shigeru Kawai International Piano Competition, Santa Cecilia International Piano Competition, and many others. Jialin Yao has been invited to perform at today’s most important music festival such as PianoFest in New York, Gilmore Festival in Kalamazoo, Ravinia Festival in Chicago, and Verbier Festival in Switzerland.

Jialin Yao was born in China in 1999. He began to play piano at the age of 4. In 2011 Jialin Yao entered the China Conservatory of Music in Beijing where he studied with Hong Fu. Since 2020, he received guidance from pianist Ruoyu Huang. After finishing his bachelor’s degree in China, Jialin Yao moved to the United States to earn his Master’s degree at the Juilliard School in New York, where he studied with Maestro Sergei Babayan. Now he is continuing his studies with Maestro Babayan at SMU Meadows School of the Arts pursuing an Artist Diploma.

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