Piano Performance

Yiran Zhao is known for the agility and musicality in her solo piano playing, and also her sight-reading ability in a collaborative setting. Yiran started playing the piano at the age of 4, and she holds a bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance & Pedagogy from Westminster Choir College (“WCC”). She won the first place in piano competitions at WCC in 2018, 2019, 2020, and in summer 2019 she was on the faculty of WCC Summer Piano Camp. Yiran attended the Brevard Music Summer program as a solo pianist, where she studied with Michael Chertok. Yiran is a student of Ingrid Clarfield and Yuren Jin.

Yiran has accompanied choirs for over 18 years, and she frequently collaborates with solo singers and instrumental groups, performing repertoire ranging from early music to new music premieres. She accompanies voice/conducting lessons and auditions in and outside of school during her time at WCC and Yale. She worked as a piano tutor at WCC, and she teaches private piano lessons. She currently teaches piano class at Educational Center for the Arts (ACES) in New Haven. In summer 2022, she was the primary keyboardist and assistant director of the Foote School’s production of Matilda the musical. She was also the accompanist of the CT Northern Regional Music Festival in 2021 and 2022. She is currently the organist/pianist at First Baptist Church in New Haven, and she was the organist/choir director at Christ the King Lutheran Church in Kendall Park, NJ from 2019 to 2021. Yiran also loves playing the harpsichord, and she took harpsichord and organ lessons during her time at Yale.