Pianist Andrew Zhou has been noted for his “great sensitivity” and luminous technique” (Anaclase), as well as performances of “extraordinary energy” (ResMusica). Finalist and laureate of four prizes at the Concours International de Piano d’Orléans (France), Mr. Zhou has toured throughout France and has appeared in major venues such as the KKL (Lucerne Festival), Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), and the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord (Paris). He has worked closely with leading composers of our time, including Unsuk Chin (Austrian premiere of her Double Concerto), Tristan Murail, Matthias Pintscher, Christian Wolff, and Walter Zimmermann, has, in addition, been the dedicatee and first performer of works of countless composers of a younger generation.Mr. Zhou is the recent recipient of a commissioning grant from the Arts Council of Ireland for a half-concert length work from composer Peter Fahey. As half of HereNowHear, a piano duo with Ryan McCullough focused on new works, he will receive a work from composer John Liberatore with support from the Fromm Foundation. He has been pianist of the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble and Ensemble Ulysses.
Mr. Zhou received degrees from Stanford University with distinction, New England Conservatory, where he was awarded a Beneficent Society Scholarship, and Cornell University, where he is currently visiting lecturer in piano. His recordings include a solo disc (“Vienne et après,” features premiere recordings of works by Pintscher and Olga Neuwirth) and forthcoming contributions on the Aeon, Open Space, CP2, and New Focus labels.
visit: andrew-zhou.com
Pianist Ryan MacEvoy McCullough has developed a unique career as soloist and collaborator, at home with music ranging from the standard repertoire to electroacoustic improvisation. He has appeared as concerto soloist with numerous orchestras, including the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Los Angeles Philharmonic, and has performed alongside the Mark Morris Dance Group and contemporary ensemble eighth blackbird.
He has performed at such festivals as the Tanglewood Music Center, Token Creek Chamber Music Festival, Sarasota Festival, Methow Valley Chamber Music Festival, and Nohant International Chopin Festival, and in March of 2015 co-directed Environs Messiaen, a festival at Cornell University celebrating the naturalist aesthetic of French composer Oliver Messiaen.
Interested in new music from an early age, Mr. McCullough has worked closely with composers George Benjamin, John Harbison, Helen Grime and Andrew McPherson, and has commissioned or been dedicatee of works by James Primosch, Carter Pann, John Liberatore, Jenny Beck, and Dante De Silva. In 2008, Ryan released a CD of solo piano music by 20th century Polish-French composer Miłosz Magin on the Polish label Acte Prealable, and in January of 2013 was featured on an Innova Records release of composer Andrew McPherson’s Secrets of Antikythera for magnetic resonator piano. He recently performed the soloist role in Jonathan Harvey’s Bird Concerto with Pianosong, playing both piano and the electronic birdsong samples, obtained by reconstructing elements of the no-longer-available synthesizer from the 1980s that the original score calls for.
Recent recording projects include albums of complete piano works by American composer Dante de Silva, Australian composer Nicholas Vines, and American composer John Liberatore. Ryan holds his B.A. from Humboldt State University and M.Mus. from the University of Southern California, as well an Artist Diplomas from the Colburn Conservatory and The Glenn Gould School. He has studied with Deborah Clasquin, David Louie, John Perry, and Xak Bjerken, in addition to influential work with Stephen Drury, Leon Fleisher, and Alan Louis Smith. He is currently serving as collaborative pianist for the Bard College Conservatory.
visit: RyanMMcCullough.com
herenowhear.com 