Colburn School Student Hao Zhou Wins Montreal International Violin Competition

Colburn School student Hao Zhou (Community School '15, Conservatory of Music '19) was selected as the Grand Laureate of the 2019 Concours Musical International de Montréal Violin Competition. Watch his final performance of Shostakovich's Violin Concerto with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal here.

Zhou came to Colburn School's Community School for the Performing arts in 2010, studying privately with Aimee Kreston, Danielle Belen (Conservatory '08), and Henry Gronnier until his graduation in 2015. At the Community School, he was a merit scholarship recipient and a member of the Honors Chamber Group as well as the Colburn Youth Orchestra. He was then accepted to the Colburn Conservatory of Music for his Bachelors of Music in Violin Performance under the tutelage of Martin Beaver, which he completed this past May. In 2015, he and fellow students Lucy Wang, Aiden Kane, and Tate Zawadiuk formed the Viano String Quartet. The Viano is now an award-winning quartet and was selected as the Colburn Conservatory's inaugural ensemble-in-residence beginning Fall 2019, when Zhou will be returning to Colburn School for his Master of Music degree.

Zhou's first place finish in Montréal comes with a $30,000 CAD, offered by the City of Montreal, the $50,000 CAD Joseph-Rouleau Career Development Grant offered by the Azrieli Foundation, a violin and bow made by the Manufacturers' Forum worth $20,000 CAD, a residency at the Banff Arts Center, and a concert at the New Generation Festival. You can read about all the winners here.