Brandon Zhou
Pianist and composer Brandon Zhou is an LA-based soloist and chamber musician with a broad range of musical interests spanning from traditional classical repertoire to works by living composers and his own arrangements. As a pianist, he has performed with acclaimed musicians such as Hilá Plitmann and Tony Arnold and with organizations such as American Contemporary Ballet and Jacaranda Music. His playing can be heard in filmmaker Kerry Candaele’s documentary Love and Justice, a film exploring striking parallels between the tragic demise of composer Jorge Peña Hen during the 1973 Chilean coup d’état and the narrative of Beethoven’s opera Fidelio. As the winner of the 2020 Atwater Kent Concerto Competition, his performance of Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto with the UCLA Philharmonia in 2021 was met with an enthusiastic reception. Recent performances include a benefit concert with flutist Anastasia Petanova in Madison, WI in collaboration with Friends of Be an Angel, a charity dedicated to supporting Ukrainian refugees, and a program of chamber works by members of the 20th century St. Petersburg Society for Jewish Folk Music at Temple Beth Torah in Ventura, CA.
Additionally, Brandon’s solo and chamber compositions have been performed as part of events across the U.S. His arrangement of Saint-Saëns’ ‘Egyptian’ Concerto for piano and string quartet was premiered to great acclaim by Inna Faliks and the Lyris Quartet at Jacaranda Music in May 2023, and his often-performed duo Three Blues Miniatures was most recently performed at the Thurnauer Chamber Music Series and Moab Music Festival. He has also had works performed at various universities in the country such as Yale University, the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, and UCLA.
Brandon earned his Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, where he studied with Inna Faliks. Additionally, he has been a longtime student of composer Richard Danielpour. He currently serves as a coach and collaborative pianist at Mount Saint Mary’s University, organist at Panorama Presbyterian Church, and collaborative pianist at UCLA.