Kevin Zhu, violin
Maxim Lando, piano

American violinist Kevin Zhu has amassed an outstanding record of concert performances and competition wins since he began playing violin at age three. Praised for his “awesome technical command and maturity” (The Strad) and “absolute virtuosity, almost blinding in its incredible purity” (L’ape musicale), Zhu has performed on the world’s largest stages, ranging from the Konzerthaus Berlin to London’s Royal Festival Hall to the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing. Initially coming to international attention after winning the 2018 Paganini Competition and 2012 Yehudi Menuhin Competition, he has established himself as a leading figure among the next generation of musicians, astonishing audiences with his peerless technical mastery and inimitable artistic voice. 

In the 2023-24 season, Zhu makes his Kennedy Center debut performing Bernstein’s Serenade (after Plato’s Symposium), returns to the Auditorio Nacional in Madrid and Victoria Hall in Singapore, and tours with cellist Jan Vogler and pianist Andrew Armstrong. Zhu embarks on a multi-city recital tour across China and makes his debut at the Esplanade Concert Hall with Shostakovich’s 1st Violin Concerto. 

Recent performing highlights include concerts on Paganini’s famed violin ‘Il Cannone’, concerto appearances in Beijing and at the historic Reggia di Caserta in Italy, and recitals in Santiago de Chile and Montréal’s Salle Bourgie. Zhu is also a passionate chamber musician, collaborating frequently with artists such as Louis Lortie, Lawrence Power, and Boris Giltburg. 

In addition to his endeavors on stage, Zhu serves as a Culture Ambassador of the Lin Yao Ji Music Foundation of China. He has been featured on ABC Eyewitness News, BBC Radio 3, and RAI Radio 3, and he is the recipient of a 2021 Avery Fisher Career Grant and Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant. 

Zhu holds a Bachelor’s degree from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Itzhak Perlman and Li Lin. He performs on the c1700 “ex-Petri” Antonio Stradivari violin, which is on loan from the Ryuji Ueno Foundation and Rare Violins In Consortium, Artists and Benefactors Collaborative. 

To learn more about Kevin Zhu, please visit his website. 

American pianist Maxim Lando has been described as a “dazzling fire-eater” (ARTS San Francisco), a “pianist who dares to do things not considered by others” (ConcertNet, The Classical Music Network) and “a total musical being” (The New Criterion).  He was lauded by Anthony Tommasini in the New York Times as displaying “brilliance and infectious exuberance in his New York debut” combined with “impressive delicacy” and a “wild-eyed danger.”

Maxim first made international headlines performing together with Lang Lang, Chick Corea, and The Philadelphia Orchestra led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin at Carnegie Hall’s 2017 Opening Night Gala. Since then, he has performed with major orchestras around the world including Pittsburgh Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Mariinsky Theater Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic, Hawaii Symphony, St. Petersburg Symphony, Memphis Symphony,  Kazakh State Philharmonic, Beijing NCPA Orchestra, and many others.

A recipient of the prestigious Gilmore Young Artist Award, Maxim is also First Prize winner in both the 2022 New York Franz Liszt International Competition and The Vendome Prize 2021/22. He continues to garner international attention on the largest stages, this past year returning to Carnegie Hall to perform Liszt Piano Concerto No. 1 with Orchestra of St. Luke’s led by Gabor Hollerung. As winner of the 2021 Juilliard Concerto Competition, he made his Alice Tully Hall debut performing Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with the Juilliard Orchestra led by Xian Zhang. In 2020 Maxim was named Musical America’s New Artist of the Month, and in 2018 at the age of 16, Maxim won First Prize at the Young Concert Artists International Auditions. His following sold-out recital debuts at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall and the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater included Liszt’s complete Transcendental Etudes and were hailed by the New York Times as a concert “You Won’t Want To Miss!” 

In the upcoming 2023-24 season, Maxim showcases three exciting new music premieres. A series of concerts will feature Lowell Liebermann’s Three Dances from Frankenstein, a major new piano work written for Maxim and commissioned through The Gilmore, along with Scott Wheeler’s new composition Fantasy on Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd. He will also give the first live performance of David Chesky’s 3rd Piano Concerto, together with the Czech National Symphony.

Maxim has been featured as a Guest Artist at many of the world’s most important music festivals, including Gilmore Piano Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Dresden Music Festival, Kissinger Sommer (Germany), Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival (Germany), Ravinia Festival, Musical Olympus International Festival (Russia), Vilnius Piano Festival (Lithuania), Gower Festival (Wales), Rising Stars Munich, Lednice-Valtice (Czech Republic), Samos Young Artist Festival (Greece), Skaneateles Festival, and the Lancaster International Piano Festival. Recital highlights include performances at the National Center for Performing Arts in Beijing, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris, Carnegie Hall Presents, Symphony Hall in Shenzhen, Chicago’s Millennium Park, Lied Center of Kansas, Beethoven Haus in Bonn, GRAMMY Salute to Classical Music, and University of Georgia Athens Presents. He was invited by Lang Lang to perform for the historic opening of Steinway and Sons in Beijing, and performed Rachmaninoff 3rd Concerto for an outdoor audience of 50,000 people with Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra in Madison, Wisconsin. 

Maxim partners frequently with violinist Daniel Hope, and is passionate about chamber music and unusual repertoire. He has collaborated with Lynn Harrell, Julian Rachlin, and the Danish String Quartet among others, and plays regularly with Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players in New York City. His CD “Into Madness” with German violinist Tassilo Probst, was recorded by Bavarian Radio on Berlin Classics and released this past August. The double album was awarded a 2023 International Classical Music Award (ICMA) for “Best Chamber Music Album of the Year”.

Dedicated to making classical music accessible to his own generation, Maxim has been featured on CNN’s Best of Quest, NPR, BBC Radio, WQXR, Bavarian Radio, Israel’s “Intermezzo with Arik”, and Russia’s TV Kultura.

Earlier awards that greatly impacted Maxim’s musical life with support and opportunities include Gold Prize at the 16th International Television Competition “The Nutcracker” in Moscow, and Second Place at the 2015 Kissingen Piano Olympics in Germany. He has also received an Audience Award and continued support from the Musical Olympus Foundation.

Maxim is a proud alumnus of the Lang Lang International Music Foundation, and studies with long-time mentor Hung-Kuan Chen at The Juilliard School.