Yilan Zhao is a prize winner of international competitions including the 70th“GiovanBattista Viotti” International Music Competition, New York International Piano Competition, Marbella International Music Competition, Moscow International Chopin Competition for Young Pianists, the 5th Colafemmina International Piano Competition,Valladolid International Piano Competiton and Kosciuszko Chopin Competition.
Her playing was praised by pianists such as Richard Goode as “deeply personal and touching”. Pianist Hung-Kuan Chen wrote that "Yilan is an artist. Besides possessing a superb pianism, she has a sense of lyricism that is very special. It shows through in her playing: expressions of dignity, peace and endearment".
She is the recipient of the Lucerne Festival Fritz Gerber Award, Kiefer Hablitzel Göhner Music Prize, Rahn Musikpreis, Munz Piano Prize and Duttweiler-Hug Prize. She has been featured as guest artist in festivals in Asia, Europe, and the United States of America, performing in venues such as the Tonhalle in Zurich, Kölner Philharmonie Concert Hall, Lucerne KKL, New York Alice Tully Hall, Barcelona Palau de la Musica, and the Shanghai Oriental Art Center. She has performed with Orchestra Musikkollegium Winterthur, Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchetra, Orchestra del Teatro Carlo Felice di Genova, Armenian State Symphony Orchestra and has collaborated with conductors such as Roberto González-Monjas, Thomas Adés, Sylvain Cambreling, Daniel Somogyi-Tóth and Sergey Smbatyan.
In January 2025, she recorded a CD of Saint-Saëns' piano concerto with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchetra under the baton of Howard Griffiths.
Born in 1995 in Hunan Province of southern China, she began playing the piano at the age of seven. In September 2011 at the age of 15, she entered the Juilliard School in New York and studied with Choong-Mo Kang. She continued her Bachelor studies at the Juilliard School from 2014 to 2018 under the tutelage of Hung-Kuan Chen. Since September 2018, she has being studying in the class of Konstantin Scherbakov in Zurich at the Zurich University of Arts. She finished her Master degree and Artist Diploma with highest distinction.
