Born in Beijing in 1996, Mery Rui Xu has dedicated her life to music from a young age, encouraged by her family, especially her dancer mother. 

She began piano lessons at the age of four, entering the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music where she studied with Professor Zhao Pingguo.

At the age of 16 she moved to Europe. She entered the Hochschule für Musik “Franz Liszt” in Weimar in the class of Prof. Peter Waas. She is currently based in Lugano, Switzerland, where she’s working on a Master’s degree at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana.

Mery has won several prizes in many international piano competitions in her native country and abroad. Amongst them were first places at the Xiwang Piano Competition, the 14th Hongkong-Asia Piano Competition, The World Prize for Peace – US International Piano Competition, the 2nd Macau-Asia Piano Competition, and the 9th Concorso Internazionale Giovani Musicisti Premio Antonio Salieri. She also won the Second Prize at the 28th Roma International Piano Competition and the Third Prize at the 56th International Clara Schumann Piano Competition, the 4th International Rosario Marciano Piano Competition, the Primo Concorso Internazinale Luigi Valperga di Masino, and the International Competition for Piano and Orchestra Città di Cantù-Italy. 

She enjoys performing both solo and chamber music programs, and she performed as soloist with the Bacau Philharmonic Orchestra Mihail Jora and Orchestra of Conservatorio Svizzera Italiana. She has been invited to play concerts in China, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland. Her recital at LAC in Lugano was reported by RSI TV News.

Mery is an avid chamber musician and she regularly performs with singers and violinists.

She has attended masterclasses with Bernd Götzke, Jacob Leuschner, Anna Malikova, Homero Francesch, and Paolo Bordoni. 

Competitor: Second Triennial Olga Kern International Piano Competition. October 27–November 3, 2019. Albuquerque, New Mexico.