Sixteen-year-old Kevin Zhu has amassed an outstanding record of concert performances and competition wins since he began studying violin at age three. He has performed as a soloist at prestigious venues such as London’s Royal Festival Hall, Mozart Hall of the Vienna Konzerthaus, China’s National Centre for the Performing Arts, and Austin’s Long Center for the Performing Arts. His solo debut in February 2013 with London’s Philharmonia Orchestra, one of the world’s greatest orchestras, received a glowing review from venerable music magazine The Strad. On Kevin’s performance of Sarasate’s Carmen Fantasy, critic Tim Homfray writes: "Zhu is just brilliant. He gave a performance of awesome technical command and maturity, in which every devilish demand put his way by Sarasate was dispatched with ease and a proper degree of dramatic flair". Amati Magazine comments on Kevin’s 2014 solo performance in Austin: “He has clearly continued to flourish, whipping through the virtuosic demands of the piece and playing with a complete command of the sultry, mature drama.”

In the 2012 Menuhin International Violin Competition in Beijing, Kevin won first prize in the Junior Division, becoming the youngest-ever winner in the 29-year history of the competition. He also took home the Composer’s Prize for the best performance of a new Chinese work. In May 2014, Kevin had a very successful debut with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra at the Mozart Hall of the Vienna Konzerthaus, performing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. He was invited to perform two solo recitals during Artist Series Concerts of Sarasota’s 2014-2015 season, Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 2 with Saratoga Symphony in 2013, and Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with Symphony Parnassus at Nourse Theatre in San Francisco in 2012. Kevin’s radio appearances include the well-known NPR program From the Top in 2012 and 2015, BBC Radio 3’s In Tune in 2013 and 2015, and Classical 89.5 KMFA in 2014. As a Culture Ambassador of the Lin Yao Ji Music Foundation of China, Kevin was a featured soloist at the Harpa International Music Academy in Iceland in 2013 and 2016. He was also invited to play a solo recital in a private concert in London and recently in New York. Kevin is currently a student at the Juilliard School’s Pre-College Division under Mr. Itzhak Perlman and Professor Li Lin. He previously studied with Li Lin and Ian Swensen at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Kevin performs on an Andrea Guarneri violin, generously on loan from Florian Leonhard Fine Violins.