16. Yizheng Cai

Born in 1993, Yizheng Cai began learning the piano with his father at the age of 5 in Nanjing, China. In 2006, Cai enrolled in Grade 7 in the Affiliated High School of Shanghai Conservatory of Music and learned piano with Australian-pianist Weiling (Williams) Chen. In 2012, Cai went to America and studied piano under Professor Martin Canin and Professor Robert McDonald from Juillirad school in New York. In 2018, he enrolled in Queensland Conservatorium (Griffith University) and studied with Russian-pianist Oleg Stephanov.
In 2008, Cai was invited to enter the 32nd Gina Bachaeur International Piano Competition in Salt Lake City (USA) without live audition. During his undergraduate study, Cai was selected many times to perform in lunchtime concerts of keyboard department at Queensland Conservatorium. As a strong pianist, Cai performed extensively in many musical events in Shanghai Grand Theatre, Shanghai Recital Hall, and Ian Hanger Recital Hall in Queensland Conservatorium. He received lots of good comments and won many prizes, such as the excellence award at the Second Scone Kawai National Piano Competition and being selected as the runner-up with vocalist Sara Donnelly for the Margaret Nickson Prize for Voice and Accompaniment in 2019 and so on.
Cai is doing the master’s degree in 2021 and continue his study with Oleg Stephanov.