Yi Zhou

IN-PERSON & ONLINE LESSONS

Yi Zhou* began her violin studies at the age of 6 in Mainland China. After completing her Bachelor’s Degree in Violin Performance at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Yi received a full scholarship to continue her violin studies with Alice Schoenfeld at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

After receiving her Master’s degree and advanced performance diploma from USC, she regularly performed with Los Angeles Opera, San Diego Symphony, San Diego Opera and Chamber Orchestra, Pacific Symphony, and Long Beach Symphony. She has also performed at the prestigious Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and toured Germany, Holland, Finland, Denmark, Latvia, and Estonia.

In 2003 and 2004, she was invited to coach and teach as a member of the String Quartet residency program at the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival. When moving to Vancouver in 2006, Yi became a member of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra and CBC Orchestra. In 2009, she joined the first violin section in the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra

As a teacher, Yi Zhou prepares students for RCM exams and music festivals, or just simply nurtures her student’s love of music and violin.  She believes in building a firm technical foundation by practicing scales and traditional etudes, and at the same time she tries to inspire students to discover the wonderful and sensitive world that music can bring to their lives.  Playing the violin requires tremendous discipline and persistency; it is a lifetime process. But within this very long and sometimes strenuous process, we learn how to take a challenge and work hard and succeed. Music creates a magical world that is beyond our ordinary daily life, and as a violin teacher, it is Yi’s greatest pleasure to be able to introduce this world to her students, to find a piece of music which can inspire them to learn and grow, and ultimately to be expressive, creative, and balanced in life.

*VSO member