Guitarist TY Zhang received First Prize in the Guitar Foundation of American (GFA) International Concert

Artists Competition in 2017, known as the most prestigious guitar contest in the world. He has received First Prize in other top competitions as well in Austria, China, Russia and the U.S., including the GFA International Competition Senior Division, Austria’s Forum Gitarre Wien International Youth Competition, the Changsha International Guitar Competition, the 2017 Schadt String Competition, and the 2017 Alexander Frauchi International Competition in Moscow.

TY has given recitals in Vienna, Serbia, China and the United States. His performance for the 2017 New York Guitar Festival was broadcast on WQXR radio. The GFA prize leads him on a concert tour starting in 2018 of over 50 cities in North America, including his recital debut in Carnegie Weill Hall, with additional dates in Europe, South America and his native China. TY performs Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez with the Allentown Symphony in 2018 and recital/concerto tours in Russia as the prize of the Frauchi Competition. With the goal of sharing the love of music through guitar in every piece he plays, TY’s concert repertoire is filled with diverse cross-genre music he loves. His debut CD will be released on Naxos in June of 2018, and includes works by Bach, Scarlatti, Brouwer, Assad, Tansman and Castelnuovo-Tedesco.

TY was born in Hebei, China. He began to study classical guitar at the age of five with his father. At seven, he was introduced to Professor Chen Zhi with whom he studied at the Music School attached to the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. In 2012, he was accepted into The Juilliard School undergraduate program, and during his six years of study there with Sharon Isbin, he received his Bachelor of Music in 2016, and his Master of Music in 2018. TY enjoys road cycling, surfing, and traveling.