Biography
Pianist Dr. Grace Xia Zhao is an award-winning, international solo and chamber music artist with credits that include performances in the United States, Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and China. She was a top-prize winner in the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition, Ettlingen International Competition for Young Pianists, first place in the California Music Teachers’ Association Solo Piano Competition, and Brentwood/Westwood Symphony Concerto Competition. Her performances have been broadcasted on KUSC (Los Angeles) and KASP (Aspen), and her playing has been characterized as being “performed at the highest level, with incredible musical sensibilities and beauty.”
Dr. Zhao began her music education at the age of three in Sichuan, China. Awarded with a full-tuition scholarship to study at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, she went on to earn a BM, MM, and Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Piano Performance, with minors in Music Education, Ethnomusicology and Electro-Acoustic Media.
Dr. Grace Zhao is passionate about using music to promote well-being, and she believes that, fundamentally, music is a wellness tool. The most critical message she tries to share in her teaching and playing is the love of music. She holds a master’s degree in Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, and she has strong research interests in the intersections of music and psychology.
Dr. Zhao’s creative work can be found on her personal website.