Pianist Haochen Zhang has built early triumphs, including a gold medal and first prize at the Van Cliburn International Competition, into an international career. Zhang took up the piano at three, gave a recital at five, and performed Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467, at six with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. Zhang's competition victories were especially impressive: he became the youngest winner ever of the China International Competition and one of the youngest winners at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Texas in 2009. In 2017, Zhang received the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant and made his debut on the BIS label with a recital devoted to the music of Schumann, Liszt, Janácek, and Brahms. He returned in 2022 on BIS with a complete recording of Beethoven's five piano concertos, and in 2023, he released an album of Liszt's Transcendental Etudes.