Chinese-born pianist Yang Gao is praised for performances that blend emotional depth with refined musical insight. He has been described as playing “with exuberance, graced with a sensitive touch and eloquent articulations.” Madame Zhu Xiao-Mei praised his playing as “delicate and sincere, with a singing quality that speaks directly to the heart and brings listeners to tears.” 

 

A frequent presence on international stages, Gao is the First Prize winner of the Harrison Winter Concerto Competition, and a Silver Medalist at the Wideman International Piano Competition. He has also participated in many of the world’s most prestigious competitions, including the Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw, Leeds International Piano Competition, Charles Wadsworth International Piano Competition, Dinu Lipatti International Piano Competition, and Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition. 

 

Gao has been featured on WQXR Classical Music Radio in the Young Artist Showcase and appeared in Portland Piano International’s Rising Star Series. His performances have taken him to major venues including Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. He has also been featured as a soloist with Camerata NY Orchestra at the Mannes Sounds Festival and with Peabody Concert Orchestra at the Peabody Institute. An active participant in leading festivals, Gao was a fellowship recipient of both the Gilmore Piano Festival and Bowdoin International Music Festival. 

 

His honors include scholarships from Matinée Musicale Cincinnati, the Art of the Piano Foundation, and the Feltsman Piano Foundation. He has received the Steinway Award from the Mannes School of Music and the Denes and Mary Agay Piano and Composition Scholarship from the Peabody Institute. 

 

Gao is currently pursuing his Doctor of Musical Arts at the Peabody Conservatory, where he studies with HieYon Choi. His principal mentors also include Awadagin Pratt and Vladimir Feltsman.  

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Gao currently serves as a piano minor instructor at Peabody Conservatory and chamber music instructor at Homewood Chamber Music Seminar. He is a 2025-2026 InterPlay artist at University of Maryland, Baltimore County. In 2026, Gao created the Lyra Concert Series as his most recent project.