Shanghai born pianist Zhu Xiao-Mei began her piano apprenticeship at a very early age and appeared on radio and television by the time she was eight. Two years later she enrolled at the Beijing Conservatory. Later, she emigrated to the United States and continued her studies there, in particular at the New England Conservatory in Boston. By the mid-1980s she had settled in France. It was at this date that Zhu Xiao-Mei began giving concerts all over the world, focusing her interest on Scarlatti, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Schumann. But it is Johann Sebastian Bach who remains at the heart of her musical universe, and she is now widely recognized as one of his leading exponents. Her recordings of works by all of these composers are regularly greeted with critical acclaim. Among her recent releases, a DVD of the Goldberg Variations recorded on Bach’s grave in St Thomas’s Church in Leipzig and a CD of The Art of Fugue have received a Special Achievement Award at the International Classical Music Awards. Zhu Xiao-Mei has for many years taught at the Paris Conservatoire and also holds the title of professor emeritus at the Beijing Conservatory. She is regularly invited to sit on the jury at major international music competitions.