4. Michelle Zhou

Born in 2007, Michelle Zhou began playing the piano at age of five and a half.

She has been a student of Rita Reichman for the past 5 years.

Michelle has won numerous prizes in piano competitions and Music Eisteddfods in Melbourne, both in her own age bracket and against pianists up to twice her age. At the age of 8, she won 2nd prize in the Australian Junior National Piano Competition in the under 12 division. She was the youngest finalist in the Norma Wilson Diploma Final in the South Eastern Arts Festival (SEAF). In 2016, she won 2nd prize in the 15-years-and-under Piano Concerto section of SEAF. In 2018, Michelle was awarded the first prize of the Music Society Victoria 15-years-and under, The Eda Schurmann Memorial Award. That same year she was the second-place winner of the American Protégé International Piano & Strings Competition in 2018, and performed at Carnegie Hall, in New York.

In 2019, Michelle won 1st prize in 15-and-under Eda Schurmann Memorial Award for Piano of the Musical Society of Victoria. In 2019, she successfully auditioned for the the Little Lev Piano Festival, a national professional development program for piano students aged 10 -15 years through the prestigious Lev Vlassenko Piano Competition & Festival in Brisbane and was chosen by the jury to perform on the final concert.