Haiou Zhang

BiographY

Haiou Zhang is considered as one of the finest pianists in his generation. His Mozart CD with the Heidelberg Symphony Orchestra under Thomas Fey was selected as the official soundtrack for the Spanish Netflix series "Money Heist" (La Casa de Papel) and received attention worldwide. Meanwhile, his newest Glinka & Dvorak album received the Supersonic Award by Pizzicato and he was nominated for ICMA International Classical Music Award in November 2021 for his solo album "My 2020" and two more ''Opus Klassik'' nominations for his Mozart CD with NDR Philharmonic String Players. All his 6 CD albums (label hänssler CLASSIC) have been selected by Lufthansa's onboard music program.

In 24/25 season he made new recital appearances in London at the new Bechstein Hall series and will return to the Brucknerhaus Linz. His recital debuts in some of the most prestige concert series in Germany such as at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg (ProArte Hamburg) and the Mercatorhalle Philharmonie Duisburg (Duisburger Philharmoniker) was great triumphs which received minutes long standing ovations. Besides, Haiou Zhang will make his comeback to the renowned Weilburg Festival (Weilburger Schlosskonzerte) in July 2025 to perform Mendelssohn piano concerto No.2 with the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra under highly acclaimed young Hungarian conductor Martin Rajna.
Further activities included the Colombian Premiere of the “Yellow River piano concerto” in Bogotá with National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia under chief conductor Yeruham Scharovsky, connected with a successful concert tour in China (Rachmaninov piano concerto No.3) embarked at the Shanghai Concert Hall.
More engagements took him to: Liszt piano concerto No. 1 with Trier Philharmonic under the Dutch Maestro Jochem Hochstenbach, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with Festival Orchestra of Immling Festival under Maestra Cornelia von Kerssenbrock. New chamber music collaborations with Austrian violinist Yury Revich at the International Music Festival Koblenz and festival Musikalischer Sommer in Ostfriesland as well several concerts with Elphier Quartet - members of the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra.

About teaching: Haiou Zhang is invited as guest lecturer for piano masterclasses at Hochschule Luzern (Lucerne School of Music) in Switzerland and the Conservatoire de Luxembourg in May 2025.

2023/24 stations were exciting debuts: Mozart piano concerto No. 9 with the Qatar Philharmonic in Doha and 5 concerts in Germany on Rachmaninoff piano concerto No.3 with the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie under Jonathan Bloxham. Recitals at the Konzerthaus Berlin and the Ehrbar Saal in Vienna performing Beethoven's sonata Op. 111 as well Liszt B minor sonata.  Furthermore he has received enthusiastic reactions in Asia: in Singapore at the Victoria Concert Hall, in Tokyo at the Sumida Triphony Hall and recitals in China in venues (such as the NCPA Beijing, Shenzhen Concert Hall, Xinghai Concert Hall in Guangzhou and the Mozart concertos with Wuhan Philharmonic at Qintai Concert Hall under chief conductor Renchang Fu. Another tour was acclaimed with six concerts in Germany on a Beethoven program with remarkable violinist Tianwa Yang: “ A wonderful unity of music making”, observed by Süddeutsche Zeitung. One more get-together with old friends: Brahms piano quintet in f minor with the vision string quartet.  

In 2022, Haiou Zhang made his sold-out orchestral debut with Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg. At the same period have seen major concerts by Haiou Zhang in Germany's most prestigious venues: the great hall of the Philharmonie Berlin, the Gewandhaus Leipzig as well as the Meistersingerhalle Nuremberg or the Philharmonie Essen. Other milestones include Mozart's Piano Concertos with Deutsches Kammerorchester Berlin, Dvorak's Piano Quintet Op. 81 with the Philharmonic String Quartet at the Berlin Philharmonic's official Welcome Back Week festival at the Chamber Music Hall of the Philharmonie Berlin. A special collaboration with the British pop legend Jarvis Cocker at the Berliner Festspiele in the production “Sleepless Nights” by BBC Radio 4. 

Haiou Zhang launched his career in 2006 with celebrated debuts at the Braunschweig Classix Festival, and has since appeared at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, the Kissinger Sommer, the Mozart Festival Augsburg, Festival international de musique de Besançon and many others. In 2010 he toured Canada in 7 concerts with Slovak Sinfonietta under the baton of Maestro Kerry Stratton (Beethoven's piano concerto No.5) acclaimed by both the audience and press - "Pianist is on cusp of great career" was the title of his concert review by Toronto Star. Another important invitation for him was two subscription concerts (Mozart piano concerto K.467 with Heidelberg Symphony under chief conductor Thomas Fey) at Sala São Paulo presented by Mozarteum Brasileiro.
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In 2010, he founded his own festival in Lower Saxony, Germany: the International Music Festival Buxtehude/Altes Land/Harburg/Stade, which is aimed primarily at young audiences. During the past 15 years he has programmed over 200 concerts for the festival and it became one of the most dynamic classical music hub in Northern Germany.
Alongside he was artistic director of the Öschberghof Klassik concert series in Donaueschingen from 2020 to 2023 and the Concert Grand Salon in Zurich in 2021, where he invited many internationally established ensembles, soloists and promoted his highly talented young pianist colleagues.

Haiou Zhang performs as a soloist and chamber musician in Europe, North and South America and Asia; his concert appearances have included venues such as the Hamburg Laeiszhalle, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Beethoven-Haus Bonn, Nikolaisaal Potsdam, Max-Littmann Saal in Bad Kissingen, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Grand Theatre Shanghai, CBC Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto, Sala São Paulo, Esplanade Concert Hall Singapore and many others.
As soloist his musical partners in Germany were the NDR Radiophilharmonie, the Nuremberg Symphony, the NWD Philharmonie, the Bochum Symphony, the Hamburg Symphony, the WKO Heilbronn, the Leipzig Philharmonic, the Heidelberg Symphony, the State Orchestras of Braunschweig and Oldenburg, the Brandenburg Symphony, the Philharmonie Südwestfalen, the Brandenburg Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonie Festiva, the Bremerhaven Philharmonic, the Trier Philharmonic, as well as internationally with the Russian National Philharmonic, the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Lithuanian National Symphony, the Macedonian Philharmonic, the Polish Chamber Philharmonic, the Filharmonie Hradec Králové in Czech Republic, the Slovak Sinfonietta, the Estonian Sinfonietta, the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, the Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra, the National Chamber Orchestra of Armenia, the Siberian Symphony Orchestra, the Voronezh State Symphony Orchestra, the Beijing Symphony Orchestra, the Xiamen Philharmonic, the Changsha Symphony Orchestra etc. and conductors such as Andrew Manze, Jonathan Bloxham, Vladimir Spivakov, Nabil Shehata, Vahan Mardirossian, Srba Dinić, Vakhtang Kakhdize, Frieder Bernius, Gerd Schaller, Thomas Fey, Martijn Dendievel, Samuel Lee, Kai Bumann, Wojciech Rajski, Marc Niemann, Hendrik Vestmann, James P. Liu, Vladimir Verbitsky, Robert Stehli, Juri Gilbo, Florian Merz etc.  

Haiou Zhang's chamber music partners include the vision string quartet, Quatuor Hermès, Quatuor Diotima, Gewandhaus Quartett, Mercore String Quartet, WDR Symphony Orchestra Chamber Players, Hába Quartet, Elphier Quartet and Eldbjørg Hemsing, Sarah Christian, Solenne Paidassi, Benedict Kloeckner, Alexander Hülshoff, Leonid Gorokhov, Christoph Heesch etc.

He is heard regularly in concerts and interviews for various radio stations and television, such as CCTV China, SF1 Switzerland, NPR, BBC3, CBC, Classical FM96.3, Ontario TV Canada, Radio 4 Netherland, ORF 1 Austria, Radio New Zealand, France télévision 3 and has strong presence at German classical radio landscape at BR-Klassik, NDR Kultur, WDR3, SWR2, Hr2, MDR Klassik, rbb3, Deutschlandradio Kultur and the Deutsche Welle TV.
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His teaching activities covers prominent music conservatories in China such as Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Wuhan, Xiamen and in Italy - Cagliari, Calabria, Brescia and Catania, as well in the USA, Canada and Singapore.

Born in China, Haiou Zhang first studied at the Central Conservatory of Music attached school in Beijing with Prof. Guangren Zhou, Prof. Manchun Chen and Prof. Hui Zhong - before continuing at the Musikhochschule Hannover (Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media) with Prof. Bernd Goetzke. In autumn 2011 he graduated in Hanover with full of high notes in all subjects.  

Haiou Zhang speaks Chinese, German and English fluently and is passionate about literature, history, multiple culture, geography, photography and classical Italian menswear/tailoring.
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