TAIWAN, CHINA
Tzu-Shao Chao was born on September 11, 2001 in Taiwan. He has studied cello since the age of 4. When he was 16 years old, he started studying at the Tainan University of the Arts with Prof. Limu Ya and he is currently a student of Prof. Maria Kliegel at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln.
In 2015, Tzu-Shao was a semifinalist of the 9th International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians in Novosibirsk, Russia. He won the honorary mention of the International Casals Award for young cellists, and the Grand Prix of the Worldvision Music Contest in 2021 (national stage).
He performed at the Cello Akademie Rutesheim, Festival Academy Budapest, and the Mendelssohn Summer Academy, in recitals and also alongside orchestras such as the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra and the Hamburger Camerata.
Throughout the years, he joined several cello masterclasses to study with musicians such as Yo-Yo Ma, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Reiner Ginzel, Marion Feldman, Chu Yibing, Alexander Rudin, Philippe Muller, Marc Coppey, Jens Peter Maintz, Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, Frans Helmerson, and Wen-Sinn Yang.
PROGRAM:
Online Round
Piatti Caprice Op. 25 No. 7
Bach Cello Suite No. 5 in C minor BWV 1011
Haydn Cello Concerto No. 2 in D major Hob. VIIb/2
Schumann Fünf Stücke im Volkston for Cello and Piano Op. 102 (first piece plus two more at the contestant’s selection)
Debussy Cello Sonata in D minor L. 135
Kodály Sonata in B minor for Solo Cello Op. 8 (1st movement)
Semifinal
Enescu Cello Sonata No. 2 in C major Op. 26
Shostakovich Cello Sonata in D minor Op. 40
Davydov At the Fountain Op. 20 No. 2
Final
Prokofiev Sinfonia Concertante in E minor Op. 125
