Ziyu Shao

At just 16, Ziyu Shao currently studies with Rena Shereshevskaya at the École Normale de Musique de Paris – Alfred Cortot and the Rachmaninoff Conservatory of Paris. He previously studied with Elena Berezkina at the Gnessins Moscow Special Music School.
Since 2026, Ziyu has been supported by the WU Zezhou Foundation and was selected as a Talent of its Chinese Young Musicians Program.

His achievements include the Gold Medal at the Gina Bachauer International Young Artists Piano Competition (2026); Third Prize at the 6th Franz Liszt International Young Pianists Competition in Weimar (2023); First Prize at the Vladimir Krainev International Piano Competition (2021); Grand Prix at the Safonov International Competition (2021); Second Prize at the 13th Kyiv International Competition in Memory of Vladimir Horowitz (2021); and Gold Medal at the Manhattan International Music Competition (2020). In 2019, he won the Gold Medal at the 14th “Beshads Without Borders” International Music Forum in Poland, Third Prize at the Szafarnia International Chopin Youth Piano Competition, and the Bronze Medal at the Moscow Nutcracker International Young Musicians Television Competition.

He has performed in some of the world’s leading concert halls, including Carnegie Hall, Van Cliburn Hall, Salle Cortot, Weimarhalle, Moscow International Music House, Louis Vuitton Auditorium, as well as at the Verbier Festival.

In 2026, he took part in the La Roque-d’Anthéron International Piano Festival in France. In 2025, he participated in the PianoTexas Music Festival in the United States, performing with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra; performed Dvořák’s Piano Quartet No. 2 at the Verbier Festival; and took part in the summer “Pianissimo” Piano Festival, where he gave a solo recital at Peterhof Palace in St. Petersburg.

In 2024, he was invited to the Winter “Pianissimo” Piano Festival and gave solo recitals in Nizhny Novgorod, at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, and at the Moscow Cultural Center. In 2023, he participated as a young artist in the Tianjin Juilliard Piano Festival. In 2022, he performed alongside Maestro Vladimir Spivakov at the Moscow International Music House. In 2021, he gave a solo recital at the Moscow International Music House, broadcast live by Russian National Radio Orpheus. In 2020, he performed solo and duet concerts at the “Piano Duo” Music Festival and was interviewed for Dutch national television’s “Podium Witteman” programme.

Since 2019, Ziyu has been a scholarship recipient and soloist of the Vladimir Spivakov International Charity Foundation.

Ziyu Shao has performed as a soloist with numerous orchestras, including the Utah Symphony Orchestra, the Moscow Virtuosi, the Svetlanov State Academic Symphony Orchestra, the Russian National Orchestra, the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, the Slobodkin Symphony Orchestra, the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Moscow State Philharmonic, the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, and the Kostroma Symphony Orchestra.