Pianist Haiou Zhang will make a rare Toronto appearance to perform an intimate solo recital on March 24. The concert by Fidelio Presents offers a program that combines masterworks by stalwarts of the classical repertoire, along with Zhang’s original music, and his arrangement of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.
Zhang was the favourite soloist of the late maestro Kerry Stratton. His playing is characterized by technical prowess combined with depth of emotion. The recital takes place in the superior acoustics of the Noble Street studios.
Pianist Haiou Zhang
Haiou Zhang was born in Hohhot, China, and began taking piano lessons at the age of eight. About two years later, he was one of only four candidates to be accepted into the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, where he continued his studies for four years. After graduating with special honours, he continued his studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover.
Award wins include the Grand Prix at the 5th Vladimir Horowitz International piano competition and 1st Piano Duo competition in Shenzhen, China, the audience prize at the Piano Olympics at the Bad Kissingen Summer Festival, the Gundlach Music Award and Dr. Maria Zbick Artist Award.
Based in Germany, he’s performed as a soloist and chamber musician in Europe, North and South America and Asia. Notable engagements include performing with the German Chamber Orchestra Berlin at the Chamber Music Hall of the Philharmonie Berlin, and with the Philharmonic String Quartet of the Berlin Philharmonic at the Berlin Philharmonic’s Welcome Back Week festival. He’s appeared on prominent stages that include the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Gewandhaus Leipzig, the Meistersingerhalle Nuremberg, the Philharmonie Essen, the Konzerthaus Berlin, Hamburg’s Laeiszhalle, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Beethoven-Haus Bonn, Brucknerhaus Linz, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Grand Theatre Shanghai, Canadian Opera House in Toronto, Sala São Paulo in Brazil, and Esplanade Concert Hall in Singapore, among others.
Canadian audiences may remember his performances with the Slovak State Symphony Orchestra under the baton of the late Kerry Stratton during their Canada-wide tour in 2010.
Zhang has recorded six albums under the hänssler CLASSIC label, including the solo album My 2020, for which he was nominated for the International Classical Music Awards in November 2021. Other awards include the Supersonic Award by Pizzicato for his Glinka & Dvorak album, also nominated for ICMA International Classical Music Award. All of his hänssler CLASSIC albums have been selected by Lufthansa for their on-flight music program. His CD of Mozart recorded with the Heidelberg Symphony Orchestra under Thomas Fey was produced as the official soundtrack for the Netflix series Money Heist.
He founded the International Music Festival Buxtehude/Altes Land/Harburg/Stade in 2010, and has served as the music director of the Öschberghof Klassik concert series in Donaueschingen.
In the 2025/26 concert season, he returned to the Weilburger Schlosskonzerte (Weilburg Festival), performing with the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, along with performances with the Bremerhaven Philharmonic, the North Czech Philharmonic, and the Wuhan Philharmonic in China, and the Ontario Philharmonic in Toronto.
Hiaou Zhang performs Bach’s Aria from the Goldberg Variations, BWV 988:
The Concert
The Toronto program includes a wide range of works.
J.S. Bach:
- Aria from the Goldberg Variations BWV 988
W.A. Mozart:
- Fantasia in D minor K.397
Frederic Chopin:
- Nocturne in C-sharp minor posth.
- Prelude in D-flat major “Raindrop”
- Nocturne in E-flat major Op.9 No. 2
Robert Schumann:
- Symphonic Etudes Op. 13, Wo06 (Aushang 5)
- Davidbundlertanze Op. 6 – Nr. 14
- Zart und Singen
- Widmung Liebeslied (Dedication) (arr. Liszt)
Haiou Zhang:
- Romanze
- Morning in Beijing
- Ice
- Dream
George Gershwin:
- Rhapsody in Blue (arr. Haiou Zhang)
The recital takes place March 24, 2026 at Noble Street Studios (17 Noble St, Toronto).
- Find show details and tickets [HERE].
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