Yihan Zhao is studying on the Artist Diploma course in the RCM Collaborative Piano faculty with pianist Simon Lepper, Roger Vignoles, Richard Uttley and fortepianist Geoffrey Govier. He is generously supported by RCM with a full scholarship, The Countess of Munster Musical Trust and LSO Conservatoire Scholarship with living cost coverage, career mentorship and performance opportunities.
Yihan’s recent highlights include his performance at the 70th & 71st Kathleen Ferrier Awards at Wigmore Hall in April 2025 & 2026. He is also a Samling Artist, Leeds Song Young Artist, and an Emily Hoh Pianist Award holder at Grasmere Song Festival. Further competition successes include Pianist Prize in the RCM Van der Pump English Song Competition and Patricia Routledge English Song Prize in 2026, and First Prize in the RCM Chappell Medal Piano Competition 2022.
As a harpsichordist, Yihan has succeeded in the Prix Annelie de Man in 2023, an international harpsichord competition in the Netherlands. His involvement in a concert series on Abolition Song and its Legacies at the Handel Hendrix House transmits and interprets lost voices of historical composers and writers, particularly those either Black or female. Yihan graduated from his bachelor’s degree in 2024 with First Class across both principal studies of piano and harpsichord, and has recently completed his Master’s with Distinction at the Royal College of Music in London, under the tutelages of Jianing Kong, Jane Chapman, Dmitri Alexeev, Simon Lepper and Richard Uttley.
