Carol Yu

Steinway Artist & Steinway Spirio Recording Artist Carol Yu is acclaimed by the Times UK for her ‘excellent, positive work at the piano’, and praised by Viktor Merzhanov, Piano Professor at Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory as ‘an artist whose playing is notable for its good taste and sense of style’. Her engaging performances have been capturing audiences worldwide. Carol has concertised internationally in London (Southbank Centre and Barbican Centre), Austria, Germany, Russia, Czech Republic, Japan, China and SE Asia.
She has been featured in such prominent events as London Park Lane Group Series, London Messiaen Festival, International Chopin Festival in Austria and International Piano Festival in Kuala Lumpur. Carol has performed for the House of Lords in London and the Chopin Society in Vienna, and was appointed Artistic Director and Principal Pianist of Hong Kong SAR 10th Anniversary celebration concert in Shanghai.
Carol has collaborated with City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Malaysia National Symphony Orchestra, and with renowned conductors Li Xin-cao and Yip Wing-sie. As a chamber musician, she has performed with distinguished musicians including violinists Jing Wang, James Cuddeford, Jeremy Williams and Jue Yao, cellists Richard Bamping and Artem Konstantinov amongst others. Her numerous recordings received critical acclaim internationally, including her solo album of Chopin and Beethoven piano works released by URM Audio (UK), recording for Moscow Radio, as well as a DVD series by Brio Music.
Inheriting an impressive tradition from her piano mentors, Carol is lauded as “5th Generation Chopin Lineage” and “5th Generation Liszt Lineage”. She studied piano with renowned masters Viktor Merzhanov, Irina Zaritskaya, Andrzej Esterhazy (pupil of the legendary Heinrich Neuhaus) and Hamish Milne, and chamber music with acclaimed instrumentalists Anne-Sophie Mutter, Lynn Harrell and the Amadeus Quartet.
Carol has garnered numerous awards and commendations in Countess of Munster Musical Trust, Tunbridge Wells International Young Concert Artists Competition, Oxford Music Festival Competition and Whyte Memorial Fund Award. A scholar of Hong Kong Jockey Club Music and Dance Fund, Carol has obtained the Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees with First Class Honours from Royal Academy of Music London, and Master of Arts from Musikhochschule Trossingen Germany, majoring in piano performance.
A multifaceted and versatile artist, Carol is Founder and Artistic Director of Manhattan International Young Artists Music Festival, the first of its kind in the region and with government support, and has brought over 25 young artists to perform in Carnegie Hall New York in 2017. Moreover, Carol is Chairperson of Hong Kong Jockey Club Music & Dance Fund Awardees Association, and Artistic Director of Concordia Music International, dedicating her efforts to the development of Music and Dance in Hong Kong. Furthermore, Carol is committed to engaging her musical gifts for charitable causes, and has given benefit concerts for charities both in Hong Kong and abroad, including UNICEF, Habitat for Humanity, Hear Talk Foundation and Sabah Thalassaemia Society, serving the needy in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Central Africa, Malaysia and Hong Kong.
In recognition of her achievements, Carol was invited to be Juror in major competitions in the region including Steinway & Sons International Youth Piano Competition, 3rd Steinway Regional Finals Asia Pacific (the only Juror from Hong Kong), Hong Kong Asia Piano Open Competition and Hong Kong International Music Competition for Young Pianists. Carol is on the piano faculty of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Hong Kong Baptist University and The Education University of Hong Kong, and was previously an Examiner for ANZCA. Many of the young talents she nurtured have won awards and subsequently pursued studies in renowned music conservatories in UK and USA.