Leia Zhu
Leia Zhengying Zhu is a British-Chinese violinist.
Early life and education
Leia Zhengying Zhu was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, to Yanhong Bi and a Chinese father. She has a younger brother, Leo. Zhu's grandmother gave her a violin when Zhu was age three, after developing an interest in classical music inspired by her parents' listening habits. Zhu's father taught her how to hold the violin, and she first learned how to play "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". Zhu took weekly violin lessons with a female teacher for a few months, and was advised to find someone who could further nurture her. She spent the next two years changing violin teachers, before settling on a teacher from the Royal College of Music, Itzhak RashkovskyZhu attended Fellside Community Primary School in Gateshead, and St Edward's School in Oxford. She graduated from St Edward's School in 2023, and achieved eight A* grades in the GCSE. Zhu is fluent in English and Chinese, and is learning French and German. She completed a Level 4 Diploma for Financial Advisers at the London Institute of Banking & Finance in 2024.
Career and other ventures
Debuting at age four, Zhu's first public performance was at the North East Last Night of the Proms in Newcastle City Hall, with around 2000 people in attendance. She first performed overseas at the age of six, in nine cities throughout Spain. In 2019, Zhu became the youngest artist to be managed by the London-based artist agency HarrisonParrott at age 12, and the youngest artist-in-residence with the London Mozart Players in October 2021, at age 14. In December 2021, she performed a violin solo of "You Raise Me Up" with Westlife, which was livestreamed on WeChat and received 27 million views on the platform. Classic FM named Zhu as one of its group of 'Rising Stars 2022' artists. She was nominated in the Young Artist Award category at the Royal [Philharmonic Society Music Awards] in 2025.Zhu has been involved in education outreach programmes established by London Mozart Players, promoting classical music to adolescents. In 2020, she entered a partnership between Google Arts and Culture and HarrisonParrott on YouTube, introducing and performing works by Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst. Zhu has shown an interest in filmmaking, having a film shortlisted at CineMagic in 2020. She published her autobiography titled Bows, Strings, and Dreams in October 2023.