Foundation for Chinese Performing Arts Presents: Jialin Yao, piano

Artist(s)

Jialin Yao 要佳林 , pianist: https://www.jialinyao.com/

“Audiences worldwide will fall in love with Jialin Yao, we certainly did." — The Boston Musical Intelligencer

“Jialin Yao has a serious attitude towards music making and a strong mindset for interpretive details. His playing is mature, sensitive and polished.”
— Dmitri Alexeev, Professor, Chair of Advanced Piano Royal College of Music

Winner of the 2024 Fou Ts’ong International Concerto Competition, Jialin Yao has captivated audiences worldwide with his “exquisite melody and profound understanding” and “supreme touch control” (The Boston Musical Intelligencer, 2024).

As a featured soloist, Jialin has collaborated with esteemed orchestras including the Beijing Symphony Orchestra, Friuli Venezia Giulia Orchestra, Miami Chamber Orchestra, Wuhan Philharmonic Orchestra, and Orchestra Academia China, among others. 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.

His 2024-2025 season highlights include performances of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 (Boulder Symphony, Mercury Orchestra, Anderson Symphony); Yellow River Concerto with the Beijing Symphony Orchestra conducted by Lihua Tan; Chopin’s Piano Concerto No.1 in E Minor, Op.11 with the Málaga Philharmonic Orchestra Conducted by Salvador Vázquez; He will also perform solo recitals at the Liliane Questel Recital Series (Rising Stars Series), the recital series of Foundation for Chinese Performing Arts, and the Dallas Chamber Music Society “Van Sickle” Recital Series. His chamber music performance highlights including the collaboration with renowned violinist Midori at the Ravinia Festival.

Jialin has garnered top honors at numerous competitions such as the Fou T’song International Piano Competition (2024), Málaga City International Piano Competition (2024), Seattle International Piano Competition (2024),), Teresa Carreño Master Piano Competition (2023), IKOF International Piano Competition (2023), Friuli Venezia Giulia International Piano Competition (2022), Singapore International Piano Competition (2021), Steinway Piano Competition (2019), Shigeru Kawai International Piano Competition (2018).

His music mentors include Emanuel Ax, Jerome Lowenthal, Robert Levin, Dina Yoffe, Joseph Lin, Augustin Dumay, Gábor Takács-Nagy, Marc-André Hamelin, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Kirill Gerstein, Kim Kashkashian, Ingrid Fliter, Dmitri Alexeev, Paul Schenly and Lang Lang.

Jialin Yao began playing the piano at age 4 and studied with Hong Fu at the China Conservatory of Music in Beijing, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree. He also received guidance from pianist Ruoyu Huang in China. At the age of 22, 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.