Yuzhang Li

Country – Republic of China
Age – 22

Yuzhang began her musical life at the age of four. Her formal training began at age 13, studying with Jinsong Xian at the Xinghai Conservatory Affiliated Middle School in Guangzhou. In 2017 she was admitted to the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, studying with Danwen Wei and Jiajia Shi. In 2021, she received a full scholarship and began a postgraduate program at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Ian Fountain.

Yuzhang won prizes in several competitions during her junior stage including the Yamaha Piano Scholarship Competition, the Pearlriver Kayserburg Piano Concerto Competition, the Shenzhen Piano Open Competition, and first prize at the Seiler Cup Piano Competition, performing in the winner’s concert at the Yongsan Concert Hall of Seoul in South Korea (2016).

In 2017 she made her first appearance at an international piano competition, winning the Special Performance Award in the Wiesbaden International Piano Competition and second prize in the Grotrian International Piano Competition. She won prizes in the Huanglong Piano Competition in 2018, in the Chengdu Golden Hibiscus music competition, and in the Steinway Piano Competition (2019). That year she also won the National Scholarship and in 2020 she won the Tan Xiaowei Scholarship due to her excellence in both piano and academic studies.

During the pandemic, Yuzhang was able to give several concerts in China. In 2021, she won first prize in the Futian Cup Piano Competition and performed with the Shenzhen Philharmonic. Before she entered the Royal Academy of Music, Yuzhang was one of the ten semi-finalists at Leeds (2021).

Repertoire

Round I

Haydn                         Sonata No. 58 in C major, Hob. XVI/48

Scriabin                      Sonata No. 2 in G-sharp minor, Op. 19

Round II

Liszt                             Étude d’éxecution transcendante No. 12 in B-flat minor, Chasse Neige, S. 139

Ravel                           Gaspard de Nuit, M. 55

Round III

Brahms                       Six Piano Pieces, Op. 118

Chopin                        Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52

Prokofiev                    Four Piano Pieces, Op. 4

Round IV

Beethoven                  Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58