Lisa Yui

Described as “a musical phenomenon” (Pianiste Magazine), Yamaha Artist Lisa Yui enjoys a dynamic career as a pianist, lecturer, teacher, author, and musical director. Since making her concerto debut at age seven, she has performed as a recitalist and soloist with orchestras across North America, Europe, and Asia.

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A top prizewinner of the Senigallia International Piano Competition in Italy and the Super Classics International Auditions in Tokyo, she has also been twice awarded the Canada Council Scholarship. Yui has performed with major orchestras, including the Tokyo Symphony, Polish National Radio Orchestra, Toronto Symphony, Edmonton Symphony, Montreal Metropolitan Orchestra, and Kraków State Philharmonic.

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Her performances have been broadcast on WQXR (New York), CBC (Canada), CJRT-FM (Ontario), and STV (Sapporo), and she has appeared in leading venues such as Suntory Hall (Tokyo), Roy Thomson Hall (Toronto), Théâtre du Châtelet (Paris), and the Liszt Ferenc Memorial Museum (Budapest).

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In 2005, she represented Canada at the World Exposition in Aichi, Japan, performing and hosting in English, Japanese, and French. She has also been a featured guest artist on the 101 Days Around the World tour aboard the Japanese cruise ship Nipponmaru.

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A dedicated educator and lecturer, Yui founded The Lives of the Piano, Manhattan School of Music’s first piano lecture-concert series, now in its 24th season. She is a regular contributor to the online music lesson platform, tonebase. She has lectured at institutions including Juilliard, Kunitachi Music University, Princeton University, and the University of Toronto.

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She has worked extensively with the Yamaha Disklavier, pioneering solo recitals, long-distance lessons, and innovative programs. Her recordings include a CD of works by Carl Maria von Weber and Jan Ladislav Dussek, which was awarded the Pianiste Maestro distinction in Pianiste, and a DVD/Blu-ray of four Beethoven sonatas with commentary, released on Aurora Classics to critical acclaim.

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Her writings have appeared in Piano Magazine, Clavier Companion, EPTA Journal, and Listen, covering topics such as virtuoso pianist Marie Pleyel (the subject of her doctoral thesis) and the history of piano music in Asia.

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Yui studied with Giovanni Valentini, Byron Janis, Marc Silverman, Oxana Yablonskaya, and Edna Golandsky. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Juilliard, receiving the Humanities Award, and her master’s and DMA degrees from Manhattan School of Music, where she was honored with the Roy M. Rubinstein Award and the Helen Cohn Award.

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At the Manhattan School of Music, Yui currently serves as Interim Associate Dean of Doctoral Studies and teaches graduate piano literature, Piano Music by Composers from Asia, and The 32 Beethoven Sonatas. She is the recipient of the 2018 President’s Medal for Distinguished Service.

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In addition, she is on the faculty of Juilliard Extension, where she teaches keyboard literature and piano.