Canadian pianist Oskar Yao has maintained a versatile career as an ambassador for music in a variety of performance practices. Oskar’s recognitions include First Prize at the Eastman International Piano Competition, Morningside Music Bridge International Concerto and Chamber Music competitions, Third Prize at the Louisiana International Piano competition, and top prizes at a plethora of national and international competitions. He has performed solo concerts around the world in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Shanghai Concert Hall, and the National Arts Centre among others, and has performed with orchestras including the Calgary Philharmonic and Civic Orchestras, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Rapides Symphony Orchestra, the Longwood Symphony Orchestra, the Juilliard and Columbia Orchestras, and more.
Oskar was born in China, but was raised in Sweden before moving to Canada where his family resides. He received his Bachelors of Arts in Financial Economics with a Math concentration from Columbia University while simultaneously pursuing his Masters of Music in Piano at the Juilliard School with Yoheved Kaplinsky as part of the Columbia / Juilliard joint dual-degree program. His other mentors have included Hung-Kuan Chen, Jerome Lowenthal, Julian Martin, and Robert McDonald.
In addition to his solo career, Oskar is the co-founder of the Super Piano Brothers, an award-winning piano duo specializing in performing arranged and original music of all genres. He has given masterclasses and lectures at institutions including The Juilliard School, Columbia University, University of Calgary, the Sitka Fine Arts Camp, etc.; and sits on the board of the San Francisco Philharmonic Orchestra, The Bay Area Community School of Music and Art, and Alaska Arts Southeast, where he enjoys giving back to the music community and supporting arts education access.
Aside from music, Oskar is an investment manager at Google overseeing Alphabet’s public equity portfolio and capital markets strategy. Previously, he was a senior equity research associate at BMO Capital Markets covering Internet and Media. Oskar started his finance career in investment banking at Crédit Agricole in the financial sponsors group before joining S&P Global as a credit analyst covering media and entertainment.
