Praised for her, “taut and impassioned performance” by the New York Times, pianist Ning Yu performs with vigor and dedication for traditional and repertoire of the 20th and 21st century on stages across the United States, Europe and Asia. Ning brings virtuosity and adventurous spirit to a wide range of music, both in solo performances and in collaborations with some of today’s most distinguished creative artists.
Ning has given dozens of world premieres by composers such as Tristan Murail, Steve Reich, Terry Riley, Michael Gordon, Enno Poppe, and collaborated with Sufjan Stevens, Michael Beil, Annea Lockwood, Wang Lu and David Bird. She has performed with ensembles such as Bang on A Can All- Stars, ICE, Talea Ensemble, Signal Ensemble, counter)induction, and was a long time member of the piano/percussion quartet Yarn/Wire.
Ning performs in concert halls, international festivals, universities, as well as non-traditional performance spaces. These venues include Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Museum of Modern Art , the Kennedy Center, Miller Theater, Guggenheim Museum, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Monday Evening Concerts in Los Angles, Library of Congress, Issue Project Room, Pioneer Works, Contempo Concert Series at University of Chicago, Kimmel Center, Köln Philharmonie in Germany, Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam, Kwe- Tsing Theater in Hong Kong, Spoleto Festival, Rainy Day Festival in Luxembourg, Ultima Festival in Norway, Transit Festival in Belgium, the Edinburgh International Festival in Scotland, Singapore International Arts Festival, Princeton University, Stanford University, Columbia University, Yale University, Brown University, and Eastman School of Music.
In theater, Ning performed with Mabou Mines’ Dollhouse — a critically acclaimed production directed by Lee Breuer. She can be seen in the production’s feature-film version, produced by ARTE France. Ning has also collaborated with director Moisés Kaufman and the Tectonic Theater Project on the development of the Tony Award–nominated play 33 Variations.
Ning is the winner of the Boucourechliev Prize at the Ninth International Concours de Orléans in France — a competition devoted to piano repertoire from 1900 to today. Together with other members of Yarn/Wire, the first-prize winner of Open Category of the International M-Prize Chamber Music Competition, and the “40 under 40 award” of the Stony Brook University for outstanding alumni. Ning is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music (B.M. And M.M.A) and Stony Brook University (D.M.A.). She is Associate Professor of Piano and Chamber Music at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
