Mei Yi Foo

Winner of the BBC Best Newcomer of the Year award, Mei Yi Foo dazzled critics and audiences at the prestigious BBC Music Magazine Awards 2013 with her ‘liberating’ and ‘virtuoso display’ (The Times). Her ‘distinct character as a player’ (The Independent) combined with her ‘personal, intelligent and unique interpretation’ (La Opinion Granada) continue to captivate audiences across Europe, the Americas, and Asia, at venues such as the Royal Festival Hall, Finlandia Hall, Wigmore Hall, Athens Megaron and Salle Gaveau. Since winning the Maria Callas Grand Prix’08 in Athens, Mei Yi has been hailed ‘a pianist to watch’ by BBC Radio 3 and ‘Rising Star’ by International Piano; according to a recent review on The Arts Desk, David Nice writes, ‘her genius is now unquestionable’.

Mei Yi worked alongside conductors such as Christian Arming, Darrell Ang, Matthias Bamert, Martyn Brabbins, Claus Peter Flor, János Fürst, Kirill Karabits, John Storgårds and Christopher Warren-Green; with the BBC Concert Orchestra, Bretagne Symphony Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony, Helsinki Philharmonic and the London Chamber Orchestra. Her avid rapport with musicians also brings her to direct orchestras such as the Malaysian Philharmonic and the Russian Virtuosi.

Mei Yi appears regularly at major festivals world-wide, with invitations from Lorin Maazel’s Castletown Festival, Mänttä Festival in Finland, Festival O/Modernt in Sweden, the Pharos Arts Foundation in Cyprus and the Britten-Pears in Aldeburgh working with Mitsuko Uchida. As a new music advocate, she performed at Vienna’s Schoenberg Centre, Park Lane Group at the Southbank, Huddersfield Festival, Ultraschall Festival in Berlin and Das Neue Werk in Hamburg. This season, Mei Yi embarks on a number of international debuts, including recitals at the Lucerne Festival, City Hall Hong Kong, Cemal Resit Rey Concert Hall in Istanbul, as well as concerto appearances with the Oviedo Filharmonia and Poznan Philharmonic. In season 2014/15, Mei Yi makes her first appearances at the Royal Festival Hall with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Casa da Musica in Porto with Remix Ensemble and at Madrid’s Teatro Real with Orchestra Excelentia. In addition to her performances this season, Mei Yi begins her teaching position at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. She was also elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in 2014.

A native of Malaysia, Mei Yi was awarded the medal of Setiawan Tuanku Muhriz for her contribution towards art and music in her home country. In London where she now resides, Mei Yi enjoys playing chamber music with Dimitri Ashkenazy, Shlomy Dobrinsky, Patricia Kopatchinskaya, Antti Siirala, Matthew Trusler, Ashley Wass, as well as working with prominent composers such as Dai Fujikura, Chris Paul Harman and Unsuk Chin. Following the success of her debut recording “Recital”, MeiYi’s new award-winning album “Musical Toys”, released on Odradek Records, has been featured in The Times, The Examiner, Neue Zurcher Zeitung, Lebrecht’s CD of the Week and garnered 5* reviews from the BBC Music Magazine and Germany's Klassik.