Chinese pianist Yixiang Hou has performed in China, Japan, Italy and the U.S. Yixiang has appeared as soloist with the Taiwan Sanchong Orchestra, the Shanghai Conservatory Orchestra and NEC Philharmonia. He has worked with such conductors as Xiaoou Zhao, Jiahong Liao and Andrew Litton. In 2006, Yixiang made his debut recital at the Shanghai Oriental Art Centre and Shanghai Conservatory Hall.
Yixiang has been prize winner of various competitions. At only ten years of age, Yixiang became a prize winner of the 2004 Shanghai Haydn Piano Competition, and in 2009, Yixiang won the Wiesbaden Piano Competition in Shanghai. Yixiang has also received awards in the Tianjin “Flying Melody”Competition and the Steinway Competition of China in Beijing, both in 2009. As a student in Shanghai, Yixiang received the highest honors, including the Tang Scholarship. In 2016, he won NEC Piano Concerto Competition and NEC Piano Honors Competition and a finalist of Serge & Olga Koussevitzky Young Artist Award in 2018. In 2019, Yixiang won the third prize in the Los Angeles Young Musician International Competition. Yixiang also won the Robert Beardsley Piano Prize Competition. Yixiang is a Member of Pi Kappa Lambda.
Born in China, Yixiang moved to Shanghai at the age of nine to study with pianists Qi Zhang, William Chen, Dachun You and Ting Zhou at the Middle School Affiliated to Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Following his studies in Shanghai, Yixiang moved to Boston in 2012, where he began his studies with Wha Kyung Byun at New England Conservatory. Yixiang completed his Bachelor of Music degree, Master of Music degree and Graduate Diploma at NEC, as a recipient of the Carol and Robert Henderson Presidential Scholarship. He is currently enrolled in Doctor of Musical Arts program on a full tuition scholarship at Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and studies with Ran Dank.
You can find Yixiang’s 2021 International Piano Competition performance here.