Performers Bio

Kevin Zhu

Twenty-year-old Kevin Zhu has amassed an outstanding record of concert performances and competition wins since he began playing violin at age three. Praised for his “awesome technical command and maturity” (The Strad) and “absolute virtuosity, almost blinding in its incredible purity” (L’ape musicale), Kevin regularly performs on the world’s largest stages, ranging from Carnegie Hall in New York to London’s Royal Festival Hall to the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing. Initially coming to international attention after winning the 2018 Paganini competition and 2012 Yehudi Menuhin Competition, he has established himself as a leading figure among the next generation of musicians, astonishing audiences with his peerless technical mastery and inimitable artistic voice.

In the 2020-21 season, Kevin will debut with the Richmond Symphony and returns to the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, performing Elgar’s Violin Concerto. He also embarks on a project to perform Paganini’s complete 24 Caprices in one concert, one of few violinists to ever do so.

Recent performing highlights include concerto appearances with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Moscow Virtuosi, and China Philharmonic Orchestra. A highly sought-after recitalist, he has toured across the United States and Europe with repertoire ranging from Beethoven to contemporary commissions. Kevin is also a passionate chamber musician, collaborating with artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Lawrence Power, and Jan Vogler.

In addition to his efforts on stage, Kevin serves as a Culture Ambassador of the Lin Yao Ji Music Foundation of China. He has repeatedly been featured on BBC Radio 3, NPR’s From the Top, and RAI Radio 3, and is the recipient of a 2021 Avery Fisher Career Grant.

Kevin is a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship at The Juilliard School, where he studies with Itzhak Perlman and Li Lin. Kevin performs on the c1722 “Lord Wandsworth” Antonio Stradivari violin, which is on loan from the Ryuji Ueno Foundation and Rare Violins In Consortium, Artists and Benefactors Collaborative.

Elliot Wuu

Praised for his “power, speed and finesse of artists twice his age” (Tribune Star), 21 year-old Elliot Wuu has captured audiences with colorful tones, sensitive musicality and emotional depth in his music.  Wuu, a Young Steinway Artist, was named a 2018 Gilmore Young Artist, one of the most prestigious awards bestowed every two years to two young pianists up to 22 years old.

In the recent years, Wuu has won numerous state, national and international competitions and performed across the globe. In 2015, Wuu won First Prize in the Hilton Head International Piano Competition for Young Artists. In the same year, he also won Second Prize and special Schubert Prize in the International e-Piano Junior Competition, Third Prize and special Mozart Prize in the Cleveland International Piano Competition for the Young Artists, Second Prize and the Best Performance award of a composition by Russian Composers in the Bösendorfer and Yamaha USASU International Piano Competition. He was also the winner of 2017 National YoungArts Competition. In addition, Wuu was named a 2014-2016 Young Scholar of the Lang Lang International Music Foundation and a 2016-2021 MTAC Young Artist Guild (YAG) member, the highest honor awarded to California music students.

Wuu has performed in major venues in the U.S., France, Italy, Germany, United Kingdom, Poland, Romania and China. In NYC, Wuu performed at the United Nations Headquarters in the presence of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, at the WQXR Greene Space, and at Carnegie Hall for the Grammy’s Salute to Classical Music concert. Other notable concert performances were at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, Aspen Festival, Ravinia Festival, Hilton Head Bravo Piano Festival and Chopin Foundation of the United States. In 2013, Wuu was selected as one of the twelve young pianists from around the world to participate in the Inaugural Lang Lang Junior Music Camp in Munich, where he performed and worked with Lang Lang in concerts and masterclass. Wuu was also featured on WQXR’s Young Artists Showcase and NPR’s From the Top radio programs.

After making his debut at age 16 with the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra performing Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Wuu has appeared with the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra, Lansing Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Parnassus, and Arad State Philharmonic in Romania, among many others.

In addition to performing, Wuu has been inspired by many great international musicians and artists. Wuu has worked with such artists as Dame Fanny Waterman, Leon Fleisher, Gary Graffman, and Ruth Slenczynska in masterclasses.

Born in September 1999 in Fremont, CA, Wuu began piano studies at the age of six. Throughout high school years, Wuu was a music scholarship student, studying piano with Yoshikazu Nagai, at the San Francisco Conservatory Pre-College, as well as at the Valley Christian High School Conservatory of the Arts. His previous teachers include Jed Galant and Rose Chen.  As a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship Award at The Juilliard School, Wuu will be pursuing his Master of Music degree under the tutelage of Robert McDonald.