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Press kit

Kuang Zhou playing the viola with an orchestra

Kuang Zhou. Viola. Cincinnati.
Artist profileSeason 26–27

Selected honors

Kuang Zhou
First Prize · ECNU Concerto Competition
2023
First Prize · ECNU Concerto Competition · 2023
Kuang Zhou
Highest Honor, String Quartet · Schubert International Music Competition
2023
Highest Honor, String Quartet · Schubert International Music Competition · 2023
Kuang Zhou
Organizing Committee Grand Prize, Viola · Baiyulan International Music Festival
2021
Organizing Committee Grand Prize, Viola · Baiyulan International Music Festival · 2021

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Biography

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Kuang Zhou is a violist pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), studying with Brian Hong. He previously studied with Melissa Reardon in Bard College Conservatory of Music’s Graduate Instrumental Arts Program. He earned his bachelor’s degree in music performance at East China Normal University in 2024, where he studied with Dapeng Sun.

His work spans solo, chamber and orchestral performance. He appeared with The Orchestra Now (TŌN) under Leon Botstein in movements I–II of Telemann’s Viola Concerto in G major in 2025, and with the ECNU Symphony Orchestra in the first movement of Walton’s Viola Concerto in 2024. In October 2025, he served as principal viola of the Bard College Conservatory Orchestra in performances of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and the North American premiere of Tan Dun’s Choral Concerto: Nine at the Fisher Center and Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center.

His festival experience includes the Green Lake Festival of Music Chamber Music Institute and the Hangzhou Liangzhu International (Youth) String Festival. His string quartet received “Highest Honor” at the Schubert International Music Competition in Moscow in 2023. At his May 2025 recital in Bard’s Olin Hall, he premiered his original Sonata Introduction for Viola and Piano, dedicated to Melissa Reardon.

Photographs

Personal collection · JPEG

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Repertoire

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Concertos

Georg Philipp Telemann: Viola Concerto in G Major, TWV 51:G9
William Walton: Viola Concerto
Paul Hindemith: Der Schwanendreher
Carl Stamitz: Viola Concerto in D Major, Op. 1
Franz Anton Hoffmeister: Viola Concerto in D Major
Béla Bartók: Viola Concerto, Sz. 120 / BB 128 (op. posth.)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat Major, K. 364 · violin and viola
Camille Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto No. 1 in A Minor, Op. 33 · arr. for viola

Viola and Piano

Johannes Brahms: Sonata in F Minor, Op. 120 No. 1
Johannes Brahms: Sonata in E-flat Major, Op. 120 No. 2
Max Bruch: Romance in F Major, Op. 85
York Bowen: Sonata No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 18
Franz Schubert: Sonata in A Minor, D 821 “Arpeggione”
Carl Stamitz: Sonata, Op. 6
Kuang Zhou: Sonata Introduction for Viola and Piano · Original composition

Unaccompanied Viola

Johann Sebastian Bach: Six Suites for Solo Cello, BWV 1007–1012 · transcribed for viola
Paul Hindemith: Sonata for Solo Viola, Op. 25 No. 1
Bartolomeo Campagnoli: Caprices, Op. 22 · Nos. 1–18

Chamber Music

Joseph Haydn: String Quartet in C Major, Op. 33 No. 3
Antonín Dvořák: String Quartet No. 12 in F Major, Op. 96 “American”
Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartet No. 8 in E Minor, Op. 59 No. 2 “Razumovsky”
Anton Arensky: String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor, Op. 35 · violin, viola, 2 cellos
Johann Sebastian Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in B-flat Major, BWV 1051
Johann Sebastian Bach: Concerto in C Minor for Oboe and Violin, BWV 1060
Charles Martin Loeffler: Two Rhapsodies for oboe, viola, and piano
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Concertone in C Major, K. 190

Orchestral & Large Ensemble Repertoire

Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125
César Franck: Symphony in D Minor
Franz Schubert: Symphony No. 8 in B Minor, D 759 “Unfinished”
Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10 in E Minor, Op. 93
Richard Strauss: Don Juan, Op. 20
Tan Dun: Choral Concerto: Nine
Béla Bartók: Dance Suite, Sz. 77
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92
Maurice Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2
Gabriel Fauré: Shylock Suite, Op. 57
Gabriel Fauré: Masques et Bergamasques, Op. 112
Gabriel Fauré: Pavane, Op. 50
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Symphony No. 40 in G Minor, K. 550
Johann Sebastian Bach: Concerto in C Minor for Oboe and Violin, BWV 1060
George Frideric Handel: “Ombra mai fu” (from Serse)
Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major, Op. 73 “Emperor”
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 “Pastoral”
Georges Bizet: Carmen Suite
Liu Tieshan / Mao Yuan: Dance of the Yao People
Lu Pei: Memorial (Piano Concerto)
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov: May Night Overture
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, Op. 64
William Walton: Viola Concerto · Soloist
Andrew Lloyd Webber: “Memory” (from Cats) · Guest Principal Second Violin

Orchestral Excerpts (Auditions)

Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67
Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73
Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5 in D Minor, Op. 47
Richard Strauss: Don Juan, Op. 20

InquiriesGet in touch

Concerts, collaborations and lessons.