Tingting Yao

Tingting Yao

Tingting Yao, APD
Staff Pianist | Collaborative Piano

School of Music, 329 | 936.294.1372 | txy007@shsu.edu

Division | Piano

Chinese-American Pianist Tingting Yao is an avid collaborative pianist and chamber musician, currently serving as the Staff Pianist at Sam Houston State University in Texas. Yao has performed throughout the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and China.

 

Often performing and recording with the Covert Ensemble (with saxophonists Dave Camwell and Katerina Pavlikova), this group has produced more than 25 unique arrangements of popular classical music from J.S. Bach to contemporary composers such as Mix Richter. In March 2023, the ensemble premiered a new piece-The Sky Between Us, by American composer Jenni Brandon at the North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial Conference. In March 2022, the ensemble also toured Alabama and Florida, and recorded with the Pensacola Symphony Orchestra for a new double concerto by Czech composer Martin Hybler.

 

Aa part of the Dubois-Yao Duo with violist Amaro Dubois, they released a second album in Jan 2023 titled “Luz” on the Parma Label. Together with their first album “Adoration”, this group actively features female, African American and Latin composers. The Duo was awarded 2021 Grand Prize Winners of the World Classical Music Awards and 2nd place Ensemble of 2021 King’s Peak International Music Competition.

 


A graduate of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Yao has won every award she could have as an accompanist in the Conservatoire. She frequently performed in venues such as Town Hall Symphony Hall (Birmingham), St John's Smith Square (London), The Prince's Teaching Institute (London), among others. Prior to her time in the United Kingdom, she was selected from pianists all over the world to work at Lang Lang Music World in Shenzhen, China.

 

Yao holds an Advanced Postgraduate Diploma (APD) in Collaborative Piano, a Master of Music in Piano Accompaniment (with Distinction) from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (UK), a Master of Music from the University of Melbourne (Australia) and a Bachelor of Arts from Tongji University, China.