Biography

Angelo Xiang Yu was born in Inner Mongolia, China, before moving to Shanghai at age eleven where he received his early training from violinist Qing Zheng at the Shanghai Conservatory. Mr. Yu earned his bachelor’s and master's degrees at the New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) in Boston. He was a student of Donald Weilerstein, Miriam Fried, and Kim Kashkashian, and was awarded NEC’s Artist Diploma in 2014. He makes his San Francisco Symphony debut at this performance.

Winner of the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition in 2010, Mr. Yu was also awarded second prize at the Wieniawski International Violin Competition and third prize at the Michael Hill International Violin Competition. He was chosen to participate in the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Bowers Program, beginning with the 2018-19 season. Most recently he received a 2019 Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists.

During the summer of 2018, Mr. Yu made his debuts at Music@Menlo and the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, as well as at the Sarasota Music Festival. Additional highlights of his 2018-19 season include debuts with the orchestras of Rochester, Sacramento, Spokane, Baton Rouge, and South Florida, as well three separate appearances with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center at Lincoln Center, in Chicago, and New Jersey.

Mr. Yu is an active recitalist and chamber musician, and he has appeared in recital in Berlin, Paris, Beijing, Singapore, Shanghai, Auckland, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Boston. He has participated as a chamber musician in several summer music festivals including the Verbier and Bergen Festival. He also attended the Kronberg Academy in Germany and the Perlman Music Program in New York. During the 2012-13 season, Mr. Yu toured with Miriam Fried and chamber musicians from the Ravinia Festival’s Steans Institute and performed concerts in New York, Chicago, Florida, and throughout New England. He was also recently featured as the artist-in-residence on American Public Media’s nationally broadcast radio program Performance Today. In March 2018, he played a recital in Boston’s Jordan Hall under the auspices of the Chinese Cultural Foundation.

Mr. Yu resides in Boston and performs on a 1729 Stradivarius violin generously on loan from an anonymous donor.

(February 2019)