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. A top prizewinner of the Senigallia International Piano Competition in Italy and the Super Classics International Auditions in Tokyo, she has also received the Canada Council Scholarship twice.

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. 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). 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.

 

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 25th season. She has lectured at institutions including Juilliard, Kunitachi Music University, Princeton University, and the University of Toronto. 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, 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. She has served as a member of numerous competition juries including the National Finals of the Canadian Music Competition and the Canadian Chopin Competition.  

Lisa Yui’s 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. 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 Manhattan School of Music, Yui teaches graduate piano literature, Piano Music by Composers from Asia, and The 32 Beethoven Sonatas. Beginning in September 2025, she will serve as Interim Associate Dean of Doctoral Studies. She is also the recipient of the 2018 President’s Medal for Distinguished Service. In addition, she is on the faculty of Juilliard Extension, where she teaches keyboard literature and piano.