Alexander Yau
PIANO
Nationality: Australia
Age: 28
Stage: Semifinal
Repertoire:
STAGE ONE - SELECTION: Mozart, Piano Concerto no. 23 K. 488 in A major, II Adagio; Schumann, Piano Sonata no. 1 in F-sharp minor Op. 11; Chopin, Polonaise in F-sharp minor Op. 44; Scriabin, Piano Sonata no. 4 in F-sharp major Op. 30
SEMIFINAL: J.S. Bach, Prelude and Fugue in G minor WTC II; Toccata in C minor BWV911; English Suite no. 2 in A minor
Alexander Yau, a young and eminent Australian pianist, has developed himself as a versatile and serious classical musician incorporating his many musical talents as a chamber musician, vocalist, clarinetist, conductor, composer and music arranger.
His major concerto appearances as soloist include the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Rachmaninov’s Concerto no.3, the Queensland Symphony Orchestra with Rachmaninov’s Concerto no. 1 and a major tour with the SBS Youth Orchestra in Australia, with Rachmaninov’s Concerto no. 2. He was the winner of Sydney Conservatorium Concerto Competition, which led him to perform the mighty Brahms’ Piano Concerto no. 2 with Eduardo Diazmunoz at the Conservatory Gala Concert to huge reception. He has been awarded numerous prizes notably at the Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition, Teresa Carreno Internatinoal Masters Piano Competition, Australian International Chopin Piano Competition, Sydney Kawai Piano Scholarship, Australian National Piano Award, and the Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition. In Australia, he has been invited to perform in the Canberra International Music Festival, Government House, Polish the Embassy of Australia and City Recital Hall in Sydney. Other international prestigious and unique venues he has performed in include Troldhaugen at Grieg's home in Norway, Yamaha Ginza in Tokyo, Alice Tuly hall in New York, Australian Pavilion at Shanghai Expo, Villa Reale in Monza and Villa Mosconi Bertani in Verona. He gave the US premiere of a newly discovered lost work by Grete von Zieritz's Piano Sonata (1928) at the FOCUS festival 2020 in Peter Jay Sharp Theatre at Lincoln Centre.
He is a collaborative musician in high demand for instrumental and chamber music, working with singers in art-song and opera repetiteur. He has worked as a collaborative pianist at the Juilliard School, now holds position at the collaborative faculty of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music Since 2022, he is on contract for repetiteur and vocal coaching at Opera Australia. In 2023 he was the assistant conductor for the Madama Butterfly, Handa Opera Sydney Harbour.
He completed his masters degree at the Juilliard School in NYC under Prof. Matti Raekallio in May 2020. He is a recipient of the Celia and Joseph Ascher Fund for Piano and the Louise Chisholm Moran Piano Scholarship, and the Harold & Helene Schonberg Piano Scholarship. In 2018 he completed his Bachelor of Music piano performance with 1st Class Honours at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney, under Prof. Daniel Herscovitch and Elizabeth Powell (retired Head of Keyboard). He was a recipient of the Corinna Taylor Memorial Prize, Seetha Aryanganie Nugawela Prize and the William Kapell Memorial Scholarship. He was greatly supported by Theme and Variations Foundation Award in 2016.
