A N N Y U
violinist, violist, educator
modern and historical performance
A B O U T
Praised for her “full bodied, rich, and warm tone” (Cleveland.com),
collaborator and educator Ann Yu draws endless inspiration from exploring multiple genres and styles diverse across both historical and modern musical traditions, leading her to unique and groundbreaking projects with Apollo’s Fire, the Poiema Trio, the Caroga Arts Collective, Project: Music Heals Us, CLE Concierto, and the Resonance Master Series. Her modern classical training has led her to performances across two continents in notable venues including Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Hall, Severance Hall, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, and the Kirsten Kjaers Museum in Denmark.
As a soloist, she has performed with the Cleveland, Cleveland Institute of Music, National Repertory, Stow Symphony orchestras, among others, and given recitals across the country. As an orchestral musician, she has held leadership positions with the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra and was a guest concertmaster for the Stow Symphony Orchestra. She is a member of the Erie Philharmonic and has performed with the National Youth Orchestra-USA All Stars, Pro-Musica Chamber Orchestra, Sarasota Opera, CityMusic Cleveland, Cleveland Chamber Symphony, New York String Orchestra, among others.
An avid chamber musician, Ann’s greatest love is playing chamber music, and she has collaborated with Janine Jansen, Franklin Cohen, Mate Szucs, Peter Slowik, Tommy Mesa, Sterling Elliot, and members of the Cavani, Verona, KASA, Zora, Del-Sol, Carpe Diem quartets and the Cleveland Orchestra, among many others. She is a regular at the Caroga Lake Music Festival and performed at the Maverick and Cooperstown Chamber Series. As a student she attended prestigious chamber music programs such as Thy, Perlman Music Program Workshop, Kneisel Hall, New York String Orchestra seminar, and Credo, and served on faculty at the Credo, Chamber Music Connection, and At First Sight chamber music festivals. She is also a founding member of the award-winning Poiema Trio.
An emerging voice in historical performance, Ann frequently performs with Apollo’s Fire as a Young Artist Fellow, as well as CLE Concierto and the Case Western Reserve University’s Historical Performance Program. She studies with Julie Andrijeski and Alan Choo and finds mentorship in Jaap ter Linden, Marilyn McDonald, Edwin Huizinga, and Francesca Brittan. Notable collaborators include Jaap ter Linden, Alan Choo, Brian May, and Rene Schiffer.
Yu finds great joy in exploring other genres and styles of playing the violin. She has backed notable musicians including Cory and the Wongnotes, Eddie Barbash, the War and Treaty, Cody Fry, the Huntertones, Jeremy Kittel, Bacon Brothers, Andrea Bocelli, Terrence Blanchard, Rhiannon Giddens, and Elise Goldberry Smith, performed with Terry Ellis’s Chrysalis Rock Orchestra, and was a featured artist in JHM Jams's cover of Harry Styles’s “As It Was.” Locally, she has performed with the late Crazy Marvin Braxton and his band the Blues Express, and enjoys jamming with local bluegrass, old time, and swing jazz musicians.
Deeply engaged with Cleveland’s vibrant arts scene, Ann collaborates with local producers, artists, dance companies, and frequently performs in private homes, churches, galleries, art studios, and retirement communities. A highlight was performing Caroline Shaw’s Broad and Free with Case Western Reserve University’s Dance Department to renowned choreographer Pam Tanowitz’s work Like Fragments of an Old Song. She has worked with local organizations from after-school arts programs to homeless shelters, creating musical storytelling projects backed by grants from the Ohio Arts Council, the Cuyahoga Arts Council, and the Center for Performance and Civic Practice. She is also a member of Asian Musical Voices of America and has been a guest speaker for the Asian Pacific Islander Network.
As an educator, Yu maintains a private studio of violin and viola students. Her students are members of the Tuesday Musical Association’s Brahms Allegro Music Club and the Ohio Federation of Music Clubs, hold leadership positions in the Akron Youth Symphony and Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, and currently attend the nation’s top music schools. She is a Lead Teaching Artist for the Cleveland Orchestra’s Crescendo Program, where she leads group classes held at the Cleveland School of Arts. She has been invited to teach private lessons and coach studio class at the Case Western Reserve University’s Historical Performance Program and collaborative ensemble seminars. She loves coaching chamber music and has served on faculty at the Credo Chamber Music Festival (Oberlin, OH), Chamber Music Connection (Columbus, OH) and At First Sight (Collegedale, TN).
Yu received her bachelors and masters degrees at the Cleveland Institute of Music studying with Jaime Laredo, Jan Sloman, and William Preucil, where she was the winner of the 26th Annual Darius Milhaud Competition and Concerto Competition and recipient of the Fortnightly Musical Award. She has performed in masterclasses by Noah Bendix-Balgley, Sibbi Bernhardsson, David Chan, Joseph Lin, David Kim, and Jeff Thayer. Her greatest musical mentors include Peter Salaff, Franklin Cohen, the Cavani Quartet, and Debbie Price.
Outside of music, you can find Ann exploring the local park system, scouring local farmers markets and antique stores, lounging in her iconic blue hammock with a book, making large messes in her kitchen, or dancing lindy hop and blues.