In the years following his highly acclaimed New York City debut in Carnegie Recital Hall in 1995, Xiao-Fu Zhou has given countless recitals as both violinist and violist. Described by the New York Times as "a master of his instrument and something of a poet,” he has performed as guest soloist with orchestras, notably The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia in nine performances. He has appeared as guest soloist on both instruments at The Ocean Grove Summer Festival, Mozart-on-the-Square, at the Ma Sitson Retrospective at Avery Fisher Hall, and in full recital in honor of maestro Wolfgang Sawallisch’s first anniversary as conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Zhou’s viola debut, one week after the tragedy of the World Trade Center, received high praise in Strad Magazine. In 2007 Zhou and pianist Samuel Hsu, with whom he performed for 20 years, gave a sold-out recital at the Kimmel Center, a recital in Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Hall, and a debut in Shanghai. Zhou is a graduate of Oberlin, Curtis, where he studied with Jascha Brodsky and Arnold Steinhardt, and Juilliard, where he studied with Dorothy DeLay. He began violin lessons at four; at sixteen he was one of eight students chosen from six hundred for scholarship at the Beijing Conservatory.
The New York Times described violinist Xiao-Fu Zhou as “A master of his instrument and a poet. Zhou unveils a preternaturally rich, warm tone and instinctive musical understanding. … Most of all one remembers the simple unmannered beauty of the playing.”