Unattainable Illusions

Young Steinway Artist Han Xiang David Xu is an active Chinese Canadian concert pianist, who maintains deep interest and extra-musical possibilities in other art forms, including ballet, painting, and Taichi. As a martial art practitioner, Xu is heavily influenced, his MMus dissertation was on Taichi Principals and Piano Performance Techniques. For the past few years, Xu has studied many other styles of martial arts and even received his certificate as a professional instructor for Functional Range Conditioning. To go further with his research on the subject, Xu took another Master of Science degree from Royal College of Music. His thesis is on Experience of Fundamental Martial Arts Training for Young Concert Pianists. After moving to Vancouver, David began studies with Ian Parker, before eventually graduating and studying at the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Professor Rebecca Penneys. He continued his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London, under the tutelage of Pascal Nemirovski, and graduated with high honors. Xu has given several recital tours across China over the past few years, with stops in Beijing, Tianjin, Shenzhen, Chongqing, Xiamen, and Guangzhou. His album Sonatas on Canvas received prizes in three categories in the Global Music Award: Classical Solo Piano, Album, and Emerging Artist. He is a prize winner in many competitions including the Rome International Piano Competition, International Music Competition Paris Grand Prize Virtuoso, and Canadian Music Competition. In 2019, he was invited to feature in a new Jaguar commercial for their new XFL sedan. Aside of being a concert pianist he is also an educator. In the past few years Xu have adjudicated in many major international piano competitions.