Zhao Yu, a pianist, Yamaha artist, expert committee member of Piano Art, member of the Guangxi Musician Association, executive director of the Guangxi Piano Society, and member of the China Musician Association. He is currently an associate professor at the School of Music, Guangxi Arts University, where he serves as the head of the Art Practice Department and a postgraduate mentor for the keyboard instrument performance direction.
Zhao Yu began his piano studies in Shanghai at an early age. In 1991, he entered the Shanghai Nie Er Talent Training Class, where he studied under the guidance of renowned Chinese piano educator Yu Dachun. He then attended the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, where he studied under the tutelage of renowned piano professors Yang Yanru, Wang Jianzhong, Lin Eryao, Sheng Yiqi, and the dean of the piano department and doctoral supervisor Jiang Chen. He eventually graduated from the piano department with a master’s degree in piano performance. From 2008 to 2010, he taught at the Xinghai Conservatory of Music’s middle school, where he served as the principal teacher for piano majors. Since 2010, he has been teaching at Guangxi Arts University. He has served as the deputy director of the piano department, the vice principal of the Affiliated Middle School of the School of Music, the deputy director of the Research and Creation Office (on secondment), the vice dean of the School of Music Education, and the deputy director of the Graduate School/Director of the Discipline Construction Office. His main research areas are piano performance, piano pedagogy, and theoretical research on piano art. He has won numerous awards in domestic and international competitions, including the China Music Golden Bell Award, the Changjiang Piano Small Golden Bell Award, and the American E International Piano Competition. Many of his students have been admitted to prestigious music schools both at home and abroad, and have won numerous awards, including the Geneva Baccaille, the Kawai, the Yamaha, the Kawai, the Little Golden Bell, and the Omel. Zhao Yu has served as a judge for numerous domestic and international competitions, participating in performances funded by the National Art Fund, he also frequently conducts masterclasses, concert tours, lectures, and other academic activities across the country. In 2019, he was invited to participate in the 30th International Summer Music Festival of Art Colleges in Antwerp, Belgium, and the first New Zealand International Piano Music Festival in 2024. That same year, he founded the European Summer Piano Academy and served as its artistic director.