PROGRAM
Tchaikovsky, The Seasons, interspersed with stories written by Katie based on the poems that originally inspired the work.
Schubert-Liszt "Gretchen am Spinnrade"
BIO
Katie Yao Morgan (2000) is of British and Chinese descent and began to play the piano when she was four years old. In 2010 she won the ABRSM Sheila Mossman Memorial Prize for achieving the highest mark in Grade 8 piano exam and additionally received a Gold Award in 2011.
In 2010 she entered the Yehudi Menuhin School, where she studied with Marcel Baudet. In 2011 she won second prize in Category B (12-16) section of the Pianist of the North Competition, and in 2014 she was awarded ‘Mention of Honour’ in the International Piano Competition in Enschede, Holland. In 2016, she was awarded Diplôme de JEUNE ESPOIR in the 10th Adilia Alieva Competition held in Annemasse, France. In 2019 she won 1st prize at the Amsterdam Regional finals of the Princess Christina Concours in the Netherlands.
Katie has performed at The Wimbledon Festival and in duos at the Wigmore Hall. In 2013 she performed Mozart’s Concerto KV449 with the Menuhin School Orchestra, and in September 2014 two performances of Chopin’s Piano Concerto No.2 with a chamber ensemble. In spring 2015 she toured the Southwest of England, performing in Bridport and Dartmouth, and later in Scotland, including New Lanark, Edinburgh and Blair Atholl. In 2016 she performed Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor with the Dorking Chamber Orchestra and in 2017 with the Mihail Jora” di Bacau Orchestra Filarmonica in Cantu, Italy. In 2022, she performed Ravel’s Left Hand Concerto with the USC orchestra in venues across the Netherlands, including Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ, Amsterdam.
She has taken part in summer courses at Tignes, France and Blonay, Switzerland with teachers including Marcel Baudet, Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden, Edith Fischer and Jorge Pepi-Alos. She has also received masterclasses from Dmitri Alexeev, Ronald Brautigam, Ronan O’Hora, Idil Biret and Dominique Merlet. She appeared on the Dutch Classical TV Show ‘Podium Witteman’ as part of the Jonge Helden (Young Talent) in 2020, 2022, 2024 and 2025.
Katie was a member of ‘Trio Pantoum’ with SongHa Choi (violin) and Maxim Calver (cello). The trio won 1st prize in the Intercollegiate Piano Trio Society Competition held in Birmingham Conservatoire in 2018. In February they toured the Netherlands, performing in a number of venues including Akoesticum and the Conservatory in Amsterdam, also appearing on Dutch radio Spiegelzaal. Her piano duo with Jorian van Nee won first prize at the Grachtenfestival Conservatorium Concours in 2024 and they have toured the Netherlands including performances at Het Concertgebouw, De Vereeniging Nijmegen and Orpheus Theater Appeldorn.
In 2025, she released her debut album ‘Echoes of the Orient’ with the record label Naxos World. The album features work by Angeline Bell for piano solo and erhu. Katie also composed two of the pieces, ‘Butterfly Lovers’ and ‘Market Havoc’ inspired by her Chinese heritage.
Katie completed her Bachelor’s of Classical Piano in 2022 at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, under the guidance of Frank Peters. She continued on and completed Masters of Repititeurship in 2024. Her Master Research, ‘The Discriminatory Instrument’, outlines the limitations of the standardised piano keyboard and advocates for pianos with narrower keys was awarded the Frans Schreuderprijs for best Master’s Research across all conservatories in the Netherlands. Subsequently, her research was published in the EPTA Bulletin. In 2024, she also completed her Bachelors in Psychology at the University of Amsterdam and received a Masters in Crime and Forensic Science at the University College of London in 2025.