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. Since 2012 he has been attending the Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach-Gymnasium in Berlin and until 2015 he was a junior student at the Berlin University of the Arts . He is currently studying with Prof. Tomasz Tomaszewski at the Julius-Stern-Institute of the University of arts in Berlin and receives private lessons from Professor Ning Feng. In 2021 Simon is studying violin for a bachelor’s degree with Prof. Ana Chumachenco at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich.
Master classes with teachers such as Ana Chumachenco, Boris Kuschnir, Petru Munteanu, Krzysztof Wegrzyn, Igor Ozim, Ingolf Turban and Paul Roczek, Daniel Hope as well as Salvatore Accardo completed his musical education.
His successes are remarkable. In addition to numerous first prizes at “Jugend musiziert” he won the first prize at the 13th International Competition for Violin “Georg Philipp Telemann” in Poznan (Poland) in 2016 with distinction for the best interpretation of a Fantasy for violin solo by Georg Philipp Telemann. This 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 for the best interpretation of a virtuoso piece and the Reinhold- Würth-Förderpreis. In 2018 he won the 1st prize at the 34th International Violin Competition Valsesia Musica in Italy. His most recent success is the 1st prize at the renowned Zhuhai Mozart Competition 2019 in China and the 1st prize at the 7th international chamber music competition Bydgoszcz 2020 with his duo partner Adam Tomaszewski.
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. He played with renowned orchestras such as the Academy of St Martin in the Field and the Symphony orchestra Berlin and the Salzburg Chamber Soloists.
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 is an academist at Hope Music Academy 2020 and since october 2020 at the Walter Stauffer Academy Cremona where he works with Prof. Salvatore Accardo.
He plays a fine old Montagnana violin, a generous loan by Florian Leonhard Fine Violins London.