Age: 17
“I love the feeling of performing on stage and receiving a warm reaction from the audience.”
Aozhe Zhang is a student at the Music Middle School affiliated with the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. He began playing the violin at the age of three. “I started learning the violin with my great-uncle. My family discovered that I had perfect pitch and thought that I should pursue music.” At age four, he began violin studies under the guidance of Liu Xinhua and has been studying with He Xian since the age of nine.
At only 14 years old, Aozhe performed all 24 caprices by Paganini in concert and released an album. He has performed concerts in many Chinese cities, receiving widespread critical acclaim. He is excited to perform a work by a Chinese composer in his competition program: Sunshine Over Tashkurgan by Gang Chen. The Concours 2026 will be Aozhe’s first appearance in North America since performing in the United States with his elementary school orchestra as a child.
Aozhe is a laureate of multiple international violin competitions and has enjoyed several recent successes. In October 2025, he won First Prize at the 58th International Violin Competition Premio Paganini, as well as the award for the best performance of a violin concerto by Paganini. “To perform in the final stage of this competition was a dream I’d had since childhood, and I consider this my most exciting performance to this date.” In August 2025, he won First Prize and the Youth Jury Prize at the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition, and won Third Prize in the violin category at the 9th edition of the Sendai International Music Competition. In September 2024, he also won First Prize at the 43rd International Violin Competition “Rodolfo Lipizer Prize”, as well as two special prizes for Best Lipizer Etude and Best New Interpretation.
Aozhe plays a 2019 violin by Piero Virdis.
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