Simon Zhu is a rising young violinist with a versatile repertoire. Born in Tübingen (Germany) in 2001, he received his first violin lessons at the age of 6. His exceptional talent was recognized at an early age, so that he was soon taught by renowned violin professors. He studied at the Mozarteum Salzburg (Austria) with Wonji Kim-Ozim and with Prof. Tomasz Tomaszewski at the Universität der Künste in Berlin. He is currently studying with Prof Ana Chumachenco at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Munich and receives private lessons from Ning Feng.
He won the first prize at the 13th International Competition for Violin «Georg Philipp Telemann» in Poznan (Poland) in 2016. That year he also received the Bruno Frey Music Prize of the Bruno Frey Foundation (Ochsenhausen). In 2017 he was awarded the First prize at the 17th International Violin Competition in Kloster Schöntal, including a special prize and the Reinhold-
Würth-Förderpreis. In 2018 he won the 1st Prize at the 34th International Violin Competition Valsesia Musica in Italy. In 2019 Simon won the 1st Prize at the Zhuhai Mozart Competition in China. His most recent success is the Second prize at the world renowned Menuhin Violin Competition in Richmond, USA, as well as the Mozart Special Award and the European Community EMCY Award for his outstanding performance.
Simon Zhu made his debut in the Berliner Philharmonie at a lunch concert in June 2015. Since 2017 he has performed there several times as a soloist with orchestra. He has also been a guest at the Internationales Violinfestival junger Meister on Lake Constance and is a scholarship holder of the Menuhin Festival & Academy.
He has already given concerts in Germany, France, Belgium, Poland, Romania, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and China. Simon is a scholarship holder of the International Academy of Music in Liechtenstein and takes part in intensive music weeks and activities of the academy. Simon is a scholarship holder of the German Music Foundation since 2016.
He plays a fine old Italian violin since 2020, a generous loan by Florian Leonhard Fine Violins London.
