Praised for interpretations of “technical and artistic perfection” (Pionteks of Bayreuth), Chinese pianist Yundi Xu is recognized for her refined sound, rhythmic control, and nuanced phrasing. Admitted to the Conservatoire de Paris at fourteen, later studying at the Royal Academy of Music in London and completing the Konzertexamen at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin, she has established an international career as a soloist and chamber musician. 

She has performed with orchestras including the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Orchestra Filarmonica Pugliese, and Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra, and appeared at major venues and festivals such as the Konzerthaus in Berlin, Salle Gaveau in Paris, the Van Cliburn Concert Hall in Fort Worth, Tanglewood, Young Euro Classic, and Les Journées Ravel. 

Equally committed to contemporary music, she has premiered works by Andrew Hamilton and Nathan Shields. A prizewinner at numerous international competitions in Poland, Spain, and Portugal, she was also a quarter-finalist at the 2025 Clara Haskil Competition. Her recordings have been broadcast on radio stations Musiq3 (Belgium), Deutschlandradio, RBB Kultur, and Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln (Germany). Yundi Xu is a Young Steinway Artist.

Yue Zhang has performed widely as both a soloist and chamber musician, giving numerous recitals, chamber concerts, and concerto performances, and sharing her music with diverse audiences in China, Europe, and beyond. She graduated from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing with both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Piano Performance, studying under Professor Ling Zhao. She is currently pursuing her Doctoral degree at Boston University with a full scholarship, studying with Professor Boaz Sharon.

As a soloist, Yue has performed Beethoven Piano Concerto with the National Concert Hall Orchestra and premiered a piano concerto by Tan Dun with the China NCPA Orchestra. Her solo recitals at Beijing Zhongshan Concert Hall and Tours City Hall (France) have been praised for their profound musicality. She earned the Silver Medal in Solo Piano Performance at the Saint Petersburg International Music Competition, where she also delivered a captivating recital. In recognition of her contributions to the arts, she was honored as a Distinguished Artist by the NCPA.

Beyond her solo career, Yue is a sought-after chamber musician, performing extensively repertoire covering diverse musical styles and invited to perform on tours in Luxembourg, France, Macau, Beijing and other venues. Her 2020 recording of Brahms Piano Chamber Music, released by Beijing Universal Music, was acclaimed for its exquisite interpretation. With a deep respect for tradition and a passion for innovation, she continuously explores new musical forms while preserving classical artistry.

Hailing from Shenzhen, China and now based in Toronto, Canada, Xuan HE brings her artistry and musical expressivity to the concert stage as a solo pianist, collaborative artist, and chamber musician across Asia, Europe, and North America. She has distinguished herself as a laureate of prestigious competitions, including first prize at the 2025 Ohio International Piano Duet & Duo Competition and medalist at the 2017 Brevard Music Festival Solo Piano Competition and the 2016 Hong Kong International Piano Open Competition. 

In the recent seasons, Xuan devotes her passion to modern contemporary solo and duet piano repertoire. In August 2025, she made her debut as a silent film accompanist. Her structured improvisation for the 1934 Chinese film The Goddess received a sold-out performance in Shenzhen. 

Xuan holds degrees from St. Olaf College, Minnesota, the University of Toronto, and the International Opera Academy, Belgium. She is currently pursuing a doctorate degree with Professor Lydia Wong and Midori Koga at the University of Toronto. She teaches at the University of Toronto Piano Pedagogy Program and plays for the university as collaborative pianist and teaching assistant, for which she received the best teaching award in 2025. She also plays for Canada’s National Ballet School and runs a private teaching studio in Toronto. 

Marked by poetic lyricism in solo performance and vibrant imagination in chamber music collaborations, pianist Sunmi Han has appeared in major venues across Europe, the U.S., and Asia—including Munich’s Herkulessaal and Prague’s Smetana Hall—and has performed as soloist with the North Czech Philharmonic, Karlovy Vary Symphony, Kharkiv Philharmonic, Moravian Symphony, and Seoul Philharmonic.

 A devoted chamber musician, she has collaborated with artists such as Arnaud Sussmann, Jörg Widmann, Colin Carr, Denis Várjon, Matthew Lipman, Nicholas Mann, Alan Kay, Pauline Sachse, Seth Knopp, and members of the Emerson Quartet. 

An alumna of The Juilliard School, she also holds degrees from Tel Aviv University and the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München, and is currently completing her DMA at Stony Brook University. Upcoming projects include Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations and Copland’s Piano Variations.

Son Duong, age 21, is a Vietnamese-American pianist from Potomac, Maryland currently attending the Eastman School of Music. He is a rising senior studying under Professor Douglas Humpherys. He also studied previously in high school with Professor Yong Hi Moon. 

Son has garnered multiple national and international accolades. He won 1st prize in the Young Artist Division of the Marian Garcia International Piano Competition (2021) along with top awards in the Canadian International Piano Competition (2020), MTNA (2021), YoungArts, NPR’s From The Top, Chopin Foundation, and West Virginia International Piano Competition (2019). He has also played in venues including Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center (UT), Strathmore Music Center (MD), Studzinski Hall (ME), and Salle Gilles-Lefebvre Hall (QC). 

Son has had the privilege to work with artists such as Dang Thai Son, Matti Raekallio, Robert McDonald, Boris Slutsky and Haesun Paik, among others. He has attended festivals including Bowdoin, Chautauqua, and Gijón. Son also enjoys playing chamber music, and has been selected as part of Eastman's Honor Chamber program as well as in the MTNA national finals. 

Son is currently pursuing a dual-degree in economics from the University of Rochester, and in his free time enjoys reading, watching football, and traveling.

Born in 2003, pianist Ryan Jia has studied piano since the age of five. He is a recent UCLA graduate under the study of Dr. David Kaplan, and is now a student at the Manhattan School of Music with David Fung. He has also previously studied with Anna Semyanovsky and the late William Wellborn. 

An avid performer, he has concertized alongside numerous orchestras, with works by Bach, Moszkowski, Prokofiev, and Shostakovich. Former accomplishments also include first place at the 2025 Atwater Kent Piano Concerto Competition, second place of the Longer Works Division and winner of the “Best Performance of an Opera Paraphrase” at the 2024 Los Angeles Int’l Liszt Competition, and second place at the 2024-25 Culver City Symphony Parness Concerto Competition with his performance of Sergei Prokofiev’s second Piano Concerto.

 
Ryan has received masterclasses from world-renowned artists such as Antonio Pompa-Baldi, Christopher Harding and Ory Shihor. 

As a “Beverly Hills National Audition Recommended Artist”, he was also involved with the UCLA Gluck Fellows program, which offers free educational performances to over 150 schools, libraries, senior centers, and other nontraditional venues throughout Los Angeles. In his free time, he enjoys photography, watchmaking, and travel.

American pianist and composer Owen Dodds leads a diverse and stimulating musical life, driven by his desire to share the music he enjoys. A native of North Carolina, Owen currently resides in New York City, where he performs as classical soloist, chamber musician, song writer, and composer. He has recently appeared in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Steinway Hall, Lincoln Center’s Clark Studio Theatre, and Rockwood Music Hall. 

Owen’s recent performance highlights included a performance of Bartok’s 3rd Piano with the Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra conducted by Xian Zhang, a performance of John Cage’s Credo in US with percussionist Eduardo Leandro, and an all Vaughan Williams program featuring University of North Carolina School of the Arts faculty members Paul Sharpe, Brooks Whitehouse, Jordan Bak, and Glenn Siebert. 

Owen has been described as a “highly gifted composer with a very personal style”. His chamber music works have recently been featured as a part of Stony Brook’s Contemporary Chamber Players, The New School’s Tech Forward concert series, Blairsville Chamber Music Festival, and the Weekend of Chamber Music festival in the Catskills of NY. Owen’s recent commissions include a piano sonata for Gilbert Kalish. 

An active collaborator and chamber musician, Owen is a member of the Mozze Trio, scheduled to make their Carnegie Hall debut in Fall 2026. Owen’s modern-folk duo, Early Gray, with guitarist Drake Duffer, has released two albums of original music, has collaborated with artists including Gabriel Kahane and Tanner Porter, and were featured on PBS North Carolina. 

Owen currently serves as a member of the piano faculty at Hoff-Barthelson Music School and as an artist staff member at Manhattan School of Music. He is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Stony Brook University, where he studies piano with Gilbert Kalish and composition with Perry Goldstein.
 

Nikita Istratov has been playing piano since the age of 6 under the tutelage of Elena Istratova. He completed high school in Portland, OR. He is now in his second year of college, studying piano on scholarship under Dr. Alexandre Dossin. In high school, he was selected as a U.S. Presidential Scholars Candidate and won a National Merit Scholarship. Also in high school, he performed at Weill Recital Hall in New York twice, as well as Steinway Hall, and won first prize at the 2021 Pittsburgh International Piano Competition.

Nikita recently received the University of Oregon’s competitive First-Year Research Award to study and perform under-represented female composer music. In the summer of 2025, he was selected as a winner of All Classical Radio’s inaugural Access Recording Project to present a solo recital at the Irving Levin Performance Hall in December 2025. He is a member of the student staff of the Oregon Piano Institute, responsible for program research and student outreach.

In August 2025, Nikita attended the 2025 Gijón International Piano Festival. At the festival, Nikita learned immensely from the teachings of Prof. Robert McDonald, Prof. Logan Skelton, and Prof. Amy Lin. 

Niels Armand-Hasselweiler is a French pianist born in Lyon, whose musical journey began on the viola at the age of six before he turned his focus to the piano. He received a rigorous musical education at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Lyon, studying piano, composition, and collaborative piano. 

He pursued advanced training in both France and Germany at leading institutions, including the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe, the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg, and the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, as well as the CRR de Paris for chamber music. His principal mentors include Momo Kodama, Éric Le Sage, Denis Pascal, Varduhi Yeritsyan and he has also worked with eminent artists such as, Anne Queffélec, Mikhaïl Voskresensky, François Dumont, Grigory Gruzman, Paavali Jumppanen and David Fray. 

Active as a soloist and chamber musician, Niels Armand-Hasselweiler performs regularly throughout Europe and appears at international festivals including the International Pau Casals Festival, the Salon-de-Provence Chamber Music Festival, the Prieuré de Chirens, and the Rendez-vous de Rochebonne. His musical collaborators include Éric Le Sage, Hervé Billaut, Florent Boffard, Masaya Kamei, and Yui Sakata. 

He is also artistic co-director of the Les Musicales du Haut-Allier Festival in France.

Étienne Caron began his piano studies at an early age with Branka Balevic-Gasparian, then with Yves Henry at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional (CRR) of Paris. 

After studying on a physics bachelor, he was admitted to the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP) in 2021 in the piano class of Denis Pascal, where he completes his studies this year. He also joined the advanced cycles in Musical Analysis under the guidance of Thomas Lacôte, as well as in Chamber Music in the class of Claire Désert and Louis Rodde. 
In 2022, he was awarded Third Prize at the Albert Roussel International Competition at Salle Cortot, and in 2024 he received the Second Prize “Chopin” at the Brest International Competition. He was selected to the prestigious Bach-Wettbewerb in Leipzig in 2025. 

He is the recipient of the Søren Le Schmidt – Château de Courgent Prize at the French Connection Academy in Denmark, which offers him a collaboration with the renowned fashion designer. 

Since 2022, he has formed a duo with baritone Pierre-Yves Cras. Together, they won the Grand Prize and seven special prizes at the International Art Song Competition of Gordes in 2024. 

Étienne Caron performs regularly as a soloist and chamber musician in prestigious venues such as the Alte Börse in Leipzig, Salle Cortot in Paris, the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto, the Théâtre Impérial de Compiègne, as well as the Opéras of Grand Avignon and Montpellier. 

Étienne Caron is one of the young artists supported by the Safran Foundation for Music.