Applauded by enthusiastic audiences worldwide for her musical poetry, expressivity, and powerful virtuosity, pianist Chaojun Yang has enjoyed an international performing career since the age of 4.

With her consistently exciting and dynamic performances, she has appeared on concert stages in Shanghai—her native city, as well as in Hong Kong, Taiwan, France, Australia, Croatia, Britain, the Philippines, North Korea, Poland, Canada, Italy, Germany, and the U.S. Chaojun has received awards from many competitions, including first place in the Shanghai Student Arts Festival Young Artists Competition; first place in the Morningside Music Bridge Chamber Music Competition in Calgary, Canada; the Silver Medal in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition; and the top prize in the North American Round of Hastings International Competition.  

As a recitalist, Chaojun has performed in some of the greatest venues throughout the world, including the Sydney Opera House, Shanghai Symphonic Hall, and Detroit Symphony Hall—where her performance of Beethoven’s “Waldstein” Sonata aired on classical radio station WRCJ. As a concerto soloist, she has appeared with the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra, The Orchestra Now, the Interlochen Arts Academy Orchestra, and the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. Most recently in November 2021, she performed with the Eastman Philharmonia under the baton of Neil Varon as the winner of Eastman 2021 Concerto Competition.

Spotlighted by the major Chinese press (Xinhua News, SMG Shanghai Television, Family Education Times, etc.) as a child prodigy, at just 6 years old—at the invitation of the International Exhibitions Bureau (Bureau International des Expositions）and with the mayor of Shanghai—Chaojun visited France where she performed for 300 guests and governors from 88 countries. Her talents have also been on display at the Sydney Opera House, Taos Chamber Music Festival, Braunschweig Classix Festival in Germany, Pianofest in the Hamptons, Chopin House in Poland, Detroit Symphony Hall, Haikou Great Hall of the People, the Shanghai Grand Theater, Shanghai Concert Hall, and Shanghai Symphonic Hall. 

Due to her outstanding musical performances, Chaojun has received commendations from the Shanghai Municipal Committee of Government and was awarded the Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award in May 2013. 

Born into a family of music lovers, Chaojun’s first guiding light for music came from her father, a senior engineer who enjoyed playing numerous instruments in his spare time. Chaojun was subsequently trained in the distinguished Russian and Germanic pianistic traditions with teachers including Er-Yao Lin, Cheng-Zhi Ding, Ming-duo Li (student of Yakov Zak), Zhe Tang, Michael Coonrod, Matti Raekallio, Benjamin Hochman, Hung-Kuan Chen, and Douglas Humpherys. Chaojun also benefited from lessons, master classes, and chamber music studies with Vladimir Ashkenazy, Borromeo String Quartet, Leon Fleisher, Joan Tower (composition), Fou Ts’ong, Richard Goode, Alexander Korsantia, David Krakauer, Anton Kuerti, Robert McDonald, John Perry, Shanghai Quartet, Paul Schenly, Peter Serkin, and Nelita True.  

Chaojun graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan in 2013, then completed the combined Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Arts double degree from Bard College, majoring both in piano performance and French studies. 

In 2019, Chaojun was awarded a full scholarship to The Juilliard School of Music in New York City, where she got her Master of Music degree in June 2021. She is now pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) in piano performance and literature at the Eastman School of Music, studying with Professor Douglas Humpherys.

2022 Third Olga Kern International Piano Competition. Competitor.