CCM piano student wins prize at 14th International Piano Competition of Orléans
Yaoyue Huang won the Alberto Ginastera prize at the prestigious contemporary music competition
UC College-Conservatory of Music DMA piano student Yaoyue Huang won the Alberto Ginastera prize at the 14th International Piano Competition of Orléans. The international piano competition is arguably the most prestigious contemporary music competition in the world. Watch Huang’s performance for the competition.
Yaoyue Huang at the International Piano Competition of Orléans.
Huang celebrates new music and lesser performed modern works, exploring experimental and creative projects that challenge convention and break away from common performance practice. She studies with CCM Associate Professor of Music in Piano Soyeon Kate Lee.
Huang is co-artistic director of “Music X Habitat X Art,” an experimental art and performance group based in Shanghai, Guangzhou and the United States. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the group has created “The Ascent of Movement Series”, an online art space that merges experimental photography and video art in performance recordings. She was also the co-artistic director of the 2019 Clara Schumann project in Shenzhen.
In addition to the Alberto Ginastera prize, Huang has been the first prize winner of National Lima Symphony Orchestra Young Artist Competition, CCM Piano Concerto Competition, Tuesday Musical Scholarship Competition, Birmingham Young Artist Concerto Competition, and MUS College of Music Concerto Competition. She also won top prizes in the Japan International Duo Piano Competition, International Alexander and Buono Piano Competition, and Ohio International Duo Piano Competition.
The International Piano Competition of Orléans was founded in 1989 with the purpose of finding the pianists of tomorrow who know contemporary music, accompanying them in their career, but also stimulating the meeting of artists from around the world and encouraging the creation of new works. Huang’s prize is named after Alberto Ginastera, a pianist and composer from Buenos Aires whose music has been influential to many artists and fellow composers, including Aaron Copland and George Balanchine.
Huang was one of only two semi-finalists from the United States and was in the company of top students from Moscow State Conservatory, Conservatoire National de musique de Paris, and the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München.
Yaoyue Huang is a pianist whose initiative celebrates new music and lesser performed modern works, explores experimental and creative projects that challenge convention, and aims to break away from the common performance practice. Huang also works with composer peers in premiering their works. She was recently awarded the Prix Alberto Ginastera from the 14th International Piano Competition of Orléans, where she premiered a newly composed work which she commissioned for the André Chevillion-Yvone Bonnaud composition prize. Huang studies at CCM in the studio of pianist Soyeon Kate Lee.
Huang was also first prize winner of National Lima Symphony Orchestra Young Artist Competition, CCM Piano Concerto Competition, Tuesday Musical Scholarship Competition, Birmingham Young Artist Concerto Competition, and MUS College of Music Concerto Competition. She also won top prizes in the Japan International Duo Piano Competition, International Alexander & Buono Piano Competition, and Ohio International Duo Piano Competition.
Huang is a co-artistic director with Scott Sherman of “Music X Habitat X Art," an experimental art and performance group based in Shanghai, Guangzhou and the United States. In response to the COVID-19 epidemic, the group has created “The Ascent of Movement Series,” an online art space for their concept, merging experimental photography and video art in recordings of their performances. She was also the co-artistic director of the 2019 Clara Schumann project in Shenzhen.
Huang was invited as a guest artist in the Wave Elements Global Music Festival in Portland, Oregon, and Music For All Seasons in Cincinnati. She has recently participated in the Gilmore Artists Festival, Bowdoin International Music Festival, the Tel-Hai International Piano master classes in Israel, the Gijón International Piano Festival in Spain and the Francis@4 Series in Cincinnati. Huang has performed at the Cincinnati Art Museum, the Farnsworth Art Museum, Shenzhen Poly Theatre, Shenzhen Grand Theatre, Hong Kong Cultural Center, Xinghai Concert Hall, Haojiang Theatre, Shantou University Southern China, Ongaku-No-Tomo Hall in Tokyo, Nihon University at the Ekoda Campus Tokyo, White Rock Theatre in the UK, and Salle de l’Institut in France. Huang has performed with the Lima Symphony Orchestra, CCM Philharmonia Orchestra and the Michigan State University Symphony Orchestra.
Feature image at the top: Yaoyue Huang performs on stage. Photo/Provided
Kelly Barefield
CCM Graduate Assistant, Marketing + Communications
Kelly Barefield is pursuing her degree in Arts Administration at CCM. She currently interns at the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and hopes to continue to work at influential arts organizations in the future, where she can apply her passion for music.
Related Stories
When grief doesn't end: Nursing PhD students bring a classroom theory to Ohio families
October 29, 2026
Most of us think of grief as something with an ending. A loss happens, it hurts, and over time the hurt fades. For many parents of children with developmental disabilities, it doesn't work that way. The sadness can quiet down for months or years and then come back. It might return on the first day of kindergarten, at a cousin's wedding, at a high school graduation, or on the day a young adult ages out of school services. Nurses and researchers have a name for this: chronic sorrow. Last October, two University of Cincinnati College of Nursing PhD students helped bring that name to a room of families, people with disabilities and the professionals who support them.
UC student's NFL internship leads to $20,000 gift to reduce loan burden
October 29, 2026
University of Cincinnati athletic training graduate student Savannah Posey interned with the Buffalo Bills during training camp and received a surprise $20,000 gift toward her student loans from safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson through his Ceedy Cares Foundation.
UC celebrates a century of Homecoming with a parade, pride and signature win over Texas Tech
October 28, 2026
The University of Cincinnati celebrated it's 100th Homecoming. The Cincinnati Bearcats defeated No. 8-ranked Texas Tech, 37-24, before a sell-out audience in Nippert Stadium. Photos of Homecoming activities show Bearcats Pride at its finest.