YUNDI

Internationally acclaimed pianist YUNDI was propelled onto the international stage when he won first prize at the XIV Chopin International Piano Competition at the age of 18, becoming the youngest and first Chinese winner in the history of the renowned competition. Since then, he has been regarded as a leading exponent of Chopin’s music. In the autumn of 2014, the Fryderyk Chopin Institute, organizer of The International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition, invited YUNDI to be on the jury of the 17th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in 2015, making him also the youngest juror of the competition. In recognition of his contribution to Polish culture, the Government of Poland presented a Gold Medal for Merit to Culture ‘Gloria Artis’ to YUNDI in 2019. 

Anthony Tommasini, chief music critic for The New York Times, praised his performances: “the brilliant young Chinese pianist has proved a technically astounding pianist who is by turns elegant and rambunctious, coolly expressive and white-hot.”

On his regular recital tours, YUNDI has performed in such venues as Carnegie Hall (New York), Royal Festival Hall (London), Musikverein Vienna, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Herkulessaal (Munich), Konzerthaus Berlin, Gewandhaus zu Leipzig, Salle Pleyel (Paris), Mariinsky Concert Hall (St Petersburg), National Centre for Performing Arts (Beijing), Seoul Arts Centre and Suntory Hall (Tokyo). Orchestras and conductors with whom he has collaborated include the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester and Riccardo Chailly, Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Daniel Harding, Rotterdam Philharmonic and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Philharmonia Orchestra and Andrew Davis, Mariinsky Orchestra and Valery Gergiev, and the Israel Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel. He has also performed with the Vienna Philharmonic, National Symphony (Washington), Philadelphia, Toronto Symphony and NHK Symphony Orchestras.

YUNDI’s recording of Chopin Preludes was released in 2015 and Chopin Ballades in 2016. Later, YUNDI started his recital tour with an all-Chopin program. His 2016 spring tour includes Carnegie Hall in New York City, Paris, London, Berlin, Vienna and Rome.

In August 2017, YUNDI challenged himself by playing while conducting Chopin’s two piano concertos, together with Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. YUNDI has brought wonderful performances to Warsaw and Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Chongqing in China. In November 2017, YUNDI toured with Maestro Alan Gilbert and Staatskapelle to Dresden, Germany and four cities in China, playing Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major K. 488 by Mozart.

Since June 2019, YUNDI started his 100-recital world tour, called YUNDI·SONATA, including over 60 cities in China and 40 cities overseas, which marked the largest tour in his career. YUNDI played the sonatas of Schubert, Chopin and Rachmaninoff.

In addition to his activities on the concert platform, YUNDI is equally committed to promoting classical music in an educational context: he is one of the pioneers of music education in China, where his success story has played a crucial role in millions of children learning the piano. He has also given masterclasses worldwide.