Biography
Yue Yu was born in a non-musical family in Shenzhen, China, in 1997, though her life infused with music since a young age of 3 when she took her first piano lesson from a friend of her parents, who comes from a long-historied musical family. Since when she 6 years old, she started to play the violin and switched to viola in 2009.
Yue was witnessed at various competition stages and won numerous prizes. In 2017, Yue’s talent was recognised by the juries at the Cecil Aronowitz International Viola Competition via an outstanding performance of York Bowen’s c minor viola sonata. As a consequence, she was a finalist of the 2017 edition and received the Sonata Prize for the best performance of a sonata in the semi-final round, of which the award is a £5000 silver mounted viola bow by Pierre Guillaume. She was also the winner of 2019 Stockport International Young Musician Competition (for all instruments), a live round participant at 2019 Lionel Tertis Competition, and more recently, she won the 1st prize at the Paul Hindemith Viola Concorso (2021) in Salzburg. She currently holds a position in the Yeoman programme at the Worshipful Company of Musicians, London, and is a scholar at the International Academy of Music in Liechtenstein.
Yue is passionate about chamber music. Being able to communicate via music and spontaneously is an important musical quality for her and she constantly finds inspirations through chamber music. By far, she has had the privilege to collaborate with well-respected musicians such as pianist Pavel Gililov, violinist Krysia Osostowitz, violist William Coleman, Robin Ireland, the string players from Primrose Piano Quartet and Amatis Piano Trio. In a particular fond collaboration with British pianist Anthony Hewitt and South African violinist Jeffrey Armstrong, Yue recorded her debut album with record label NAXOS in September 2019, including music by British composers York Bowen, Imogen Holst and Benjamin Britten.
Among many good reviews, in a 5-star review of a concert in 2017 where she performed Max Bruch’s Romanze with RBC String Orchestra conducted by Julian Lloyd Webber in Birmingham Town Hall, Yue was particularly mentioned as the “richly-toned soloist”, by Christopher Morley, and he commented, “the impact of this loving, generous, and little-known music will not easily be forgotten.”.
Completed her bachelor’s studies at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire with Dr Louise Lansdown, she is currently pursuing the master's degree at Universität Mozarteum Salzburg with Professor Thomas Riebl.
Yue Yu currently plays on a modern viola (2015) by French Luthier Antoine Gourdon that won the International Viola Making Prize “Renaud Stahl in 2016, Paris”, with a golden mounted bow by Pierre Guillaume.
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Last updated: Oct 2021