Biography
Simon Zhu was born in Germany in 2001. He received his first violin lessons at the age of six. His exceptional talent was recognized early on, so he was soon being taught by renowned violin professors. Since 2012, he has been a student at the Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Music High School in Berlin and a young student at the Julius Stern Institute at the Berlin University of the Arts. He was a student of Prof. Koh Gabriel Kameda. From 2015-2021, he was a student of Prof. Tomasz Tomaszewski at the Berlin University of the Arts and takes private lessons with Ning Feng. Since 2021, he has been studying with Prof. Ana Chumachenco in Munich.
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Simon attended master classes with professors Wolfgang Marschner, Rainer Kussmaul, Ana Chumachenco, Boris Kuschnir, Petru Munteanu, Krzysztof Wegrzyn, Igor Ozim, Ingolf Turban and Paul Roczek, among others. He is also a scholarship holder of the International Music Academy in Liechtenstein and regularly takes part in the intensive weeks and activities of the Academy.
In 2016, Simon won the 1st prize at the “13th International competition for violin Georg Philipp Telemann” in Poznan (Poland) with the award for the best interpretation of a fantasy for violin solo by Georg Philipp Telemann. In the same year, he also received the “Bruno Frey Music Prize” from the Bruno Frey Foundation (Ochsenhausen). In 2017, the 1stprize followed at the “17th International Violin Competition” in Kloster Schöntal, including a special prize for the best interpretation of a virtuoso piece and the Reinhold Würth Prize. In 2018, he won the 1st prize at the “34th International Violin Competition Valsesia Musica" in Italy, 2019 the 1st prize at the renowned “Zhuhai Mozart Competition” in China and 2021 the 2nd prize at the “International Menuhin Competition” in Richmond as well as the “Mozart Prize” and the “EMCY Performance Prize”.
Simon Zhu made his debut in June 2015 at a lunchtime concert in the Berlin Philharmonic. Since 2017, he has performed there several times as a soloist with orchestra. He was also a guest at the International Young Masters Violin Festival at Lake Constance and is a scholarship holder of the Menuhin Festival & Academy. He gave concerts in Germany, France, Belgium, Poland, Romania, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and China.
Simon has been a scholarship holder of the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben since 2016 and an academician of the Hope Music Academy 2020.
He has been playing a fine old Italian violin since 2020, on generous loan from Florian Leonhard Fine Violins London.