BIOGRAPHY
HAO ZHOU
BIOGRAPHY
Captivating audiences worldwide with his unique exuberance and unbridled enthusiasm, American violinist Hao Zhou rose to international acclaim as both the Grand Laureate of the 2019 Montreal International Violin Competition and a First Prize winner of the 2019 Banff International String Quartet Competition. An accomplished soloist and chamber musician, his performances have taken him all over the world to cities such as Paris, Berlin, Brussels, Osaka, New York City, Beijing, Montreal, Banff, and London.
His future engagements will feature a debut in Florence, Italy with the New Generations Festival, a recital debut in Switzerland, and an artist residency at the Banff Center for Arts and Creativity. He will also be returning to Montréal for the Virée Classique, hosted by the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal. Since the 2019 COVID-19 pandemic, Hao has remained active with the Viano String Quartet, presenting numerous virtual concerts with various organizations including the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Friends of Chamber Music of Troy, the Salt Lake Chamber Music Society, and the Banff International String Quartet Festival.
A resident of Southern California, Hao made his debut with the Four Seasons Symphony Orchestra performing Vivaldi’s Double Concerto in A minor at the age of 9. Since then, he has performed with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, the Colburn Orchestra, and the Downey Symphony Orchestra with renowned conductors such as
Alexander Shelley, Thierry Fischer, and Sharon Lavery. He has collaborated with and performed alongside internationally distinguished artists such as Emanuel Ax, Elisso Virsaladze, Orion Weiss, Noah Bendix-Balgley, Roberto Diaz, Clive Greensmith, and Paul Coletti.
Hao is a founding member of the award-winning Viano String Quartet, the current 2019-2021 Ensemble-in-Residence at the Colburn Conservatory. Actively dedicated to bringing in audiences from outside the concert hall, the Viano has collaborated with actors and scriptwriters in a comedy theater show called "Over The Top," performed for thousands of elementary school children to bring classical music to younger audiences. His many awards with the Viano String Quartet also include the Grand Prize at the ENKOR Chamber Music Competition as well as Third Prize at the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition, where they also won the Sidney Griller Award and the Haydn Prize.
Hao was invited to participate in the latest Kronberg Academy Festival and has spent his past summers at the Ravinia's Steans Institute for Young Artists, the McGill International String Quartet Academy, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, and the Music Academy of the West. He is a graduate of the Colburn Conservatory of Music, where he studied extensively with Martin Beaver.
Hao plays on a violin made in 1783 by Giuseppe and Antonio Gagliano, on generous loan from the Aftergood Family.