Biography
Described as masterful, deeply emotional and dramatic in his pianistic style by BBC Radio, London based British-Chinese pianist Noah Zhou is the first ever British born Laureate of the Rachmaninoff International Piano Competition. Generously supported through his childhood by the Eileen Rowe Musical Trust, he has since graduated with 1st Class Honours from the Royal Academy of Music, where he was awarded the Sir Elton John Scholarship, and where he studied with the Emeritus Head of Keyboard, Christopher Elton. During his time as a student, Zhou was awarded multiple top scholarships and grants from The Hattori Foundation, Countess of Munster Trust and the Drake Calleja Trust.
In late 2024, Zhou was invited to give the first international premiere of a new work by the celebrated South American female composer Angel Amparo, in Ibague, the musical capital of Colombia. He followed up this success with his debut solo recital at the Wigmore Hall in London, which was received with great approval, and was rapidly reviewed as ‘a tremendous recital by an exceptional pianist’ with playing ‘that was often of staggering imagination’ by Seen and Heard International.
Zhou has been a top prizewinner in over 15 national and international piano competitions, and first came to media attention when he was awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society of Great Britain’s Duet Prize for Best Young Instrumentalist in 2018. Since then he has frequently performed in concerts, across venues all over the world, including but not limited to; London’s Wigmore Hall, Sinfonia Smith Square Hall, Southbank Royal Festival Hall, Steinway Hall, Cardiff’s BBC Hoddinott Hall and King’s Lynn’s Town Hall (UK); Moscow’s Great Hall of the Tchaikovsky State Conservatory (Russia); Kiev’s Philharmonia Hall (Ukraine); Gothenburg’s Operan and Konserthuset (Sweden); Budapest’s Danube Palace (Hungary); Amsterdam’s Bimhuis and Muziekgebouw (Netherlands); Faro’s Teatro Lethes, Teatro das Figuras and Porto’s Casa de Musica (Portugal); Bayreuth’s Steingraeber Kammermusik-Saal (Germany); Eisenstadt’s Esterhazy Palace (Austria); Pazardzhik’s ‘Maestro G. Atanasov’ Concert Hall (Bulgaria); Varallo’s Teatro Civico, Monza’s Villa Reale and Verona’s Auditorium al Palazzo della Gran Guardia (Italy); Vrsac’s Millenium Hall (Serbia); Rio’s Sala Cecilia Meireles (Brazil); Shenzhen’s Concert Hall (China); Tongyeong’s Concert Hall (South Korea) and Sendai’s Hitachi Systems Hall (Japan). He has collaborated with numerous orchestras, including the Phion Orchestra of the Netherlands; the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Ukraine; the Brazilian National Symphony Orchestra; the Orquestra do Algarve; the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia (named after Evgeny Svetlanov); the Danube Symphony Orchestra; the Manchester Camerata; the Pazardzhik Symphony Orchestra; and the Malaga Symphony Orchestra, and has performed under the batons of conductors such as Antony Hermus; Douglas Bostock; Ivan Nikiforchin; Vitaliy Protasov; Roberto Tibiriçá; András Deák; Ronald Corp; Grigor Palikarov; Stephen Threlfall; and Victor Eloy Lopez Cerezo, amongst others.
From 2023-2025, Zhou spearheaded the artistic direction of The Piano Concerto Festival. This was an event that was focused around granting young pianists access to a professional orchestra, which they would be invited to perform with, and which also connected them with internationally practising professionals in a masterclass setting. During his tenure as artistic director, Zhou oversaw the launch, as well as the repeat edition of the event in Faro, Portugal, and also initiated the first multi-country 2-part festival, with adjoining event weeks in Faro, Portugal, as well as Florence, Italy.
Noah Zhou | Piano 