About
Sharon is a highly sought-after solo violinist and chamber musician of her generation. Through the violin and her own compositions, she aims to communicate to audiences her belief in the necessity of music for the human spirit.
Also an avid explorer of new music, she is recognised for her individual versatility as a musician with an ever-expanding repertoire, ranging from classical to contemporary works.
Since the start of her musical journey, she has given many concerts as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician in the UK, Europe and China. Shortly after she was accepted into the Junior Guildhall School of Music and Drama aged 8, Sharon was awarded 1st prize at the North London Music Festival.
When she was 14, Sharon made her concerto debut performing Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with The Mozart Orchestra and is regularly invited by orchestras to perform as a guest soloist. Later this year, she will be performing Beethoven‘s Violin Concerto with the Angel Orchestra in London. From a young age, she has participated in several international masterclasses such as Astona International, Valdres Sommer Symphoni, Verão Classico, Internationale Sommerakademie Mozarteum Salzburg, alongside others and has worked with many renowned musicians, including Christian Altenburger, Pierre Amoyal, Ana Chumachenco, Rodney Friend, Eszter Haffner, Detlef Hahn, Alf Richard Kraggerud, Boris Kuschnir, Mihaela Martin and Weidong Tong to name a few. During masterclasses, she was often selected to perform in public Gala Concerts and was featured in the Luzerner Zeitung following her rendition of Wieniawski’s Variations on an Original Theme at Astona International:
‘Sharon Zhou spielte im Vorjahr noch in der Gruppe der Jüngsten. Jetzt wagte sie sich mit Erfolg an die umfangreichen und technisch extrem schwierigen Variationen von Henryk Wieniawski, Opus 15.’ – Luzerner Zeitung 2018
She has been a participant and laureate of several national and international competitions; highlights include her performances at the Ilona Féher Violin Competition and the Zhuhai International Mozart Competition. She was awarded both the St Cecilia’s Bequest, for the best performer under 18, as well as the Colonel Howes Prize at the 34th Eastbourne Young Soloist Competition. Sharon also received the silver award at the Internationales Musikfest in Vienna, where she made her debut at the Musikverein. During her studies at the Royal College of Music, she was awarded the Highly Commended Prize at the annual Violin Competition and the Contemporary Competition.
A multi-faceted artist, Sharon has composed her own cadenzas for the Brahms and Mozart Violin Concertos, and has most recently premiered her first work for violin and piano (titled Prima o poi) in Cividale, Italy. She regularly collaborates with a range of composers to premiere works and is currently working on a new violin concerto by Patrick Case. She has been a member of the Pavilion Ensemble, a chamber orchestra based in the UK which workshops and performs newly-written pieces. Constantly nurturing her curiosity and enthusiasm for new music, Sharon aims to bring fresh and diverse programmes to the stage.
Sharon is a recipient of the 2023 RPS Julius Isserlis Scholarship which supported her studies at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien as part of an exchange programme, where she studied with Professor Ernst Kovacic. She completed her Bachelor’s degree at the Royal College of Music under the guidance of Detlef Hahn, Daniel Rowland and Peter Manning. In the 25/26 season, she will be performing with the Orpheus Sinfonia as part of their Foundation Programme and is an artist at the Davidsbündler Academy in The Hague.
Sharon’s Violin
Made in 1855, Paris, by Georges Chanot
Sharon Zhou Violinist 