About Yue...
Yue Yu, born in 1997 in Shenzhen, China, moved abroad at 18 and has since thrived in the UK, Austria, and Germany, performing across Europe in venues like Wigmore Hall, Berlin Philharmonie, Konzerthaus Berlin, Vienna Konzerthaus, and Birmingham Town Hall.
Chamber music lies at the heart of her passion. Yue has collaborated with inspiring artists including Steven Isserlis, Steven Doane, Clive Greensmith, Pavel Gililov, Thomas Riebl, and Timothy Ridout, as well as ensembles like the London Bridge Piano Trio, Amatis Piano Trio, Primrose Piano Quartet, and Berolina Ensemble. Festival highlights include Ravinia (USA), IMS Prussia Cove (UK), International Mendelssohn (Germany), Schiermonnikoog (Netherlands), Vivacissimo (Italy), Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival (South Africa), Wye Valley Chamber Music Festival (UK), and Ulverston International Music Festival (UK).
Internationally recognised, Yue was named a Classic FM 2022 Rising Star (30 under 30). She won first prizes at the 2021 Paul Hindemith Viola Concorso (Salzburg) and 2019 Stockport International Young Musicians Competition, and advanced in prestigious events like Lionel Tertis (2019), Tokyo Viola (2022/2025), and Cecil Aronowitz (2017—where she won the Bishop Instruments Prize and a £5,000 P. Guillaume bow for her outstanding performance of York Bowen’s Viola Sonata in C minor).
Her Naxos debut album (recorded at age 22) with pianist Anthony Hewitt and violinist Jeffrey Armstrong—featuring Britten, Imogen Holst, and Bowen—earned praise from Gramophone and Fanfare, standing alongside Lawrence Power’s renowned Bowen recording.
Yue studied on full scholarship at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (Dr. Louise Lansdown), earning the Worshipful Company Silver Medal (2017) and Principal Prize (2019), followed by master’s and postgraduate studies at the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg with Prof. Thomas Riebl (until Jan 2024).
From 2023-2025, she was an academist with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin. Since August 2025, she serves as Principal Viola with the Magdeburg Philharmonic, leading symphonies, operas, and ballets, and concurrently holds the position of Akademist with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. Elsewhere, she is also a frequent guest with the Salzburg Camerata and Ensemble Esperanza. A scholar at the International Academy of Music in Liechtenstein, where she performed at the Galakonzert in 2022, 2023, and 2024, she plays an 1865 Enrico Ceruti viola, generously on loan from the Hepner Foundation.
Updated: Feb 2026