Annie Zhou currently attends the University of Toronto Schools, where she is a straight A student in grade 9. In her spare time, she likes to read, draw, and she enjoys biking, skating, and skiing as well. Annie is a full scholarship student at the Young Artists Performance Academy at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, where she studies with Marietta Orlov. She began her piano studies at the age of four with Tanya Tkachenko. At the ages of five and six, she was the youngest student of any discipline to be awarded a scholarship from the Royal Conservatory School. Annie has won national first prize at the Canadian Music Competition (CMC) for three consecutive years. She was a top winner at the Canadian Chopin Piano Competition (2010), and the grand winner at the CCC National Piano Competition (2011). Internationally, Annie was a gold medalist at the AADGT International Young Musicians Competition (2010), and the youngest prize winner at both the Minnesota International e-Piano Junior Competition (2011), and the Cooper International Piano Competition (2012). Recently, she won first prize at the Ettlingen International Competition (2012).
With Lang Lang
Annie had master classes or private lessons with Leon Fleisher, Emanuel Ax, Christopher Elton, John Perry, Marc Durand, Robert McDonald, Jeffrey Siegel, Sa Chen, and Yuja Wang. She made her orchestral debut when she was eight, and has since performed with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra, and the Toronto Sinfonietta. She has performed in premier concert venues across North America, such as Glenn Gould Studio and Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, the Maison symphonique in Montreal, the Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis, and Carnegie Hall in New York. She has performed in Italy four times, and recently in Germany as well. Annie has been on local and national TV and radio, including her duo with world-acclaimed pianist Lang Lang on CTV’s Canada AM, and her performances on CBC Radio One, CBC-Radio Canada, and Classical 96.3 FM. She was also on US radio, such as WCLV 104.9 FM Ohio. As a chamber musician, she performed on WNED Classical 94.5 FM Buffalo. Recently, Annie has been selected by the CBC as a Next! Artist for the year of 2013, as one of the most promising young artists in Canada. Annie shared the stage with “The Tragically Hip”, one of Canada’s most successful and influential rock bands, at the Royal Occasion. She was videotaped for demonstration at the CFMTA-MTNA-RCM World Pedagogy Conference in 2007.
Annie also performed in various benefit concerts, such as “Ivory Keys for Cancer” for the Canadian Cancer Society, the St. James Chancel Choir in Concert for helping needy children in developing countries, and the globally collaborated “Young Artists for Haiti” virtual concert for earthquake victims in Haiti and Chile.
