Sharon Zhou & Jad Grainger

Named one of the 2026 Classic FM Rising Stars, Sharon is a British violinist and composer, currently studying at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna and is an artist at the Davidsbündler Academy in The Hague. From a young age, she has performed throughout the UK, Europe and China as both a soloist and chamber musician, making her concerto debut at the age of fourteen with Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto. She has collaborated with renowned artists including Christian Altenburger, Adrian Brendel, Ana Chumachenco, Ernst Kovacic and Boris Kuschnir, amongst others. In addition, Sharon has been a laureate of several competitions, such as 1st prize at the North London Music Festival, the Colonel Howes Prize at the Eastbourne Young Soloist Competition and the Silver Award at Internationale Musikfest Wien, where she made her debut at the Musikverein.

Most recently, she premiered her first two compositions, “Prima o poi” for violin and piano and “Solace” for solo violin. She was also a recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society Julius Isserlis Scholarship. She completed her Bachelor’s degree at the Royal College of Music under the guidance of Detlef Hahn, Daniel Rowland and Peter Manning.

Born in Norwich, Jad Grainger graduated in his Masters in performance at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2024. He moved to London in 2018 to commence his undergraduate study at the Guildhall. At the Guildhall, Jad’s principal study was with Philip Jenkins, while he also played in masterclasses with Robert Levin, Noriko Ogawa, Boris Berman, Paul Roberts and Leslie Howard.

In 2022 Jad was a finalist of the Guildhall School’s Beethoven Competition, playing Beethoven’s “Appassionata” Sonata op57, 2023 and 2024 saw more success in Guildhall Competitions, being a finalist in the ‘Ivan Sutton Chamber prize’ (2023) and the ‘Romantic piano prize’ (2024). For the conclusion of his Masters, Jad worked with Professor David Dolan for a Mozart piano concerto project involving improvisatory elements, including cadenzas, arranged for piano and string quartet.

Both in 2024 and 2025, Jad travelled to Italy for masterclasses with Federico Colli at the “Lake Garda Music prestige academy” and to France; to teach, play concerts and participate as a scholar at “Music at Chateau D’Aix” with Paul Roberts, Charles Owen and Martin Sturfält.

Parallel to his development as a soloist, Jad has relished working both with the “Elvira Trio” in his final year at Guildhall and afterwards; where they cultivated a relationship and played concerts regularly for the ‘Friends of the UK Mendelssohn Foundation’. The trio also played a recital at St Mary’s Perivale in spring 2025. Jad inaugurated the Reform Club’s two piano recital series alongside Leslie Howard in September 2024 with Percy Grainger’s ‘Lincolnshire Posy’ and Rachmaninoff’s ‘Symphonic Dances’. Jad later returned to the reform club in 2025 for a solo recital and a Beethoven Masterclass playing for Boris Giltburg. In addition to trio playing, Jad has been a regular collaborator at Norwich Cathedral chapel with violinist Dylan Latham where they played recitals on behalf of the Norwich School in 2023,2024 and 2025.

Highlights in 2026 are performing in Girona, Oxford and East Sussex.