Angie Zhang | Life After Juilliard

Postcards From Juilliard Alums

After 13 years at Juilliard, my musical home since I was 10, I moved out of the concrete jungle during COVID. Ann Arbor has been my base for the last few years, and I’m near the end of my doctorate in piano performance and master’s in fortepiano performance at the University of Michigan.

I am still writing my love story with music. The older I get, the more something Emanuel Ax (Pre-College ’66; Diploma ’70, Postgraduate Diploma ’72, piano; faculty 90–2023) told me resonates: We’re so lucky to do what we do. These days, I am performing full-time, teaching, and working on entrepreneurial projects that exemplify the artist as citizen. Last fall, I won third prize at the International Chopin Competition on Period Instruments in Warsaw, and I’ve recently been named one of five finalists for the 2025 American Pianists Association Award. I also attended the Perlman Music Program right after Poland, which was a lot of fun and a big reunion!

In 2022, I was awarded the grand prize at the Music Academy’s Innovation Institute and won my first full-time professorship, in piano, cello, and music theory. I also made my debut at La Jolla Music Society SummerFest, performing with, among others, Artist Diploma cellist Sterling Elliott (BM ’21, MM ’23) and Tessa Lark (Artist Diploma ’17, violin). In the fall, I won the audience and best Beethoven violin and piano sonata (with Martin Beaver) prizes at the Honens International Piano Competition. I also performed Beethoven’s entire works for cello and piano (sonatas and variations) with Zlatomir Fung (BM ’21, cello), who’s just joined Juilliard’s faculty.

It’s been fascinating to see how we’re taking what we learned at Juilliard and serving the public in multifaceted ways.

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