Pianist Jou-Yu Shieh studied in the master’s piano programme with Claudius Tanski at Mozarteum University Salzburg, then continued postgraduate piano study with Jacques Rouvier and concert-exam studies with Wolfgang Manz at the Hochschule für Musik Nürnberg.
Her work spans solo recitals and chamber music concerts in Salzburg, Attersee, Nuremberg and Taiwan. At Mozarteum Salzburg, she continues advanced work in piano chamber music with Connie Shih and in Lied accompaniment with Pauliina Tukiainen and Stephan Genz. Her competition awards include the Grand Prix at Crown of Stars in Music and Stars Awards, first prizes at the Euterpe Music Awards, Medici International Music Competition and G-Clef Piano Competition, and a Gold Prize at the 2022 Euterpe Music Awards.
Here both Alice Dreier and Jou-Yu Shieh explore the correspondence between Lūcija Garūta and a French sculptor she met in Paris in 1926 – a series of tender letters exchanged over several years. Reading them alongside the composer’s own song “My dream,” she traces how a real, unfolding love story is woven into the music: the same imagery of shared dreams that runs through the letters returns, sweet and painful, in Garūta’s writing for voice.
