ABOUT
Praised by legendary American pianist Russell Sherman, who wrote “With unflappable poise Byron performed both the most difficult passages and the poetic – interludes in a completely convincing way that embraced the core of the music and the composer”, pianist Byron Wei-Xin Zhou is one of the most gifted young musical talent with virtuoso of the highest caliber and suggesting the possibility and promise of an international career on a notable level.
After winning the First Prize of the 2007 Virginia Waring International Piano Competition (Originally Joanna Hodges International Piano Competition), Byron started his career as a concert pianist by performed over 100 recitals across America, Asia, and Europe, including many prestigious concert venues such as Carnegie Hall-New York, Jordan Hall-Boston, Shanghai Concert Hall-Shanghai, Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center-Tel-Aviv, Victoria Hall-Geneva, and Teatro alla Scala-Milan. His performance was described as, “...flawless technique and dynamics on a difficult program” by the Desert Sun, and highly recognized by the professional musical society, including the recognition by Earl Wild, who said, “I am particularly enamored with the playing of Wei-Xin” and by Maurice Hinson, who said “Wei-Xin’s performance is simply a miracle” to the public media.
The other honors Byron has received includes the Second Prize of the 2007 Schimmel USASU Young Artist International Junior Piano Competition, Guest Artist for the 2007 Arthur Rubenstein Competition Festival, Exclusive Pianist of 2010 Shanghai World Expo in the “Better Music Better Life” concert series, Concert Artist for 2013 Goslar International Piano Concert Weeks, Nominee of the 2015 American Pianists Awards, Winner of 2015 New England Conservatory Concerto competition, and Gold Medal Award of the 2020 5th Manhattan International Music Competition.
Byron also regularly collaborated with many orchestras for concerto engagements such as Cameristi della Scala for the Chopin Piano Concerto No.2, Kodaly Philharmonic Orchestra for the Ravel Piano Concerto, New England Conservatory Philharmonic Orchestra for the Brahms Piano Concerto No.1, and Shanghai Youth Philharmonic Orchestra for the Prokofiev Piano Concerto No.3.
As a pianist, Byron also enjoys sharing his thoughts and speaking for the musicians at international events. Byron was invited as a panelist for UNITAR’s Music Conference on 2018, as well as the representative of the young generation musician at the 2019 Davos Sub-Forum at Davos, Switzerland.
Born and having started his piano studies in Shanghai, Byron studied with Mr. Christopher Zhong at age 3. Byron moved to the United States in 2011, where he studied at the New England Conservatory of Music for Bachelor and Master's degree, Carnegie Mellon University for the Artist Diploma, and Longy School of Music of Bard College for the Graduate Performance Diploma under the tutelage of Ms. Wha Kyung Byun, Mr. Bruce Brubaker, Mr. Sergey Schepkin, and Ms. Esther Ning Yau. In May 2021, Byron graduated from Carnegie Mellon University’s Prestigeous Artist Diploma program
Byron received early career assistance from the Clarisse B. Kampel Foundation from 2007 to 2017. Byron is currently under the artist roaster of the Global Foundation for the Performing Arts.
