MUJIE YAN
Pianist, Harpsichordist & Chamber Musician
|延慕洁|

A Study on the Piano Music of Leoš Janáček
2022
In recent years, Mujie's repertoire choices shine a light on lesser-known works in the piano world, with a focus on Czech composers and their piano/chamber works. Particularly those by Leoš Janáček and Bohuslav Martinů.

Scriabinesque
2020

Outside of Czech piano music, Mujie is also deeply fascinated by the works of A. Scriabin. She is working through his piano music from later sonatas to smaller undiscovered gems.
Harpsichord & Continuo
This April, her debut recital takes her audiences through major works by Handel, Rameau, Duphly and Froberger, while sprinkled with her interest in Martinů’s pieces for harpsichord. This marks an important step in her career as a harpsichordist, which is featured in a preview article written by Carol Main OBE of Live Music Now Scotland, published in The List magazine’s April issue.

Chamber Ensembles

Lumen Trio - Smetana Piano Trio
2022
The Lumen Trio, with Portuguese violinist Inês Alves Ferreira Soares and American cellist Josiah Duhlstine, first introduced in 2021, began their first performance exploring Smetana's only and tragic Piano Trio in g minor. From 2023, they continue to work together while broadening their repertoire choices, to works by Beethoven and Suk.
Duo Immersio - Scriabin Fantasy
2022

As their first debut in the concert titled Orchestra Reimagined at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in 2022, David Anastasiou, a Cypriot pianist and Mujie Yan, a Chinese pianist joined efforts curating a programme full of new and exciting elements, performing lesser-known orchestral works for two pianos by Alexander Glazunov, Sergei Lyapunov and Alexander Scriabin.
This is not the first concert experience after they met in their studies in the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, as they have performed many times in Keyboard Showcases and Piano Festivals. Despite always finding joy in exploring and converging their differences, David and Mujie share the common passion in incorporating rarely-played works in their concert programming, introducing brand new experiences for concert attendees. During Duo Immersio’s years of collaboration, they were involved in numerous masterclasses and opportunities, learning and furthering their understanding of collaboration and piano duet-playing through advices from world-renowned pianists and educators, Professor Boris Berman, Lilya Zilberstein and more. They have also premiered works by new composers such as Adrian Stark.

Biography
Having recently made her solo harpsichord debut with the Institut Français d’Écosse at St. Cecilia’s Hall in Edinburgh, Mujie Yan is a versatile solo and collaborative pianist and harpsichordist from Shaanxi, China. She is about to begin her doctoral studies at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS), focusing on the keyboard and chamber music of Leoš Janáček and Bohuslav Martinů.
Equally passionate about exploring Baroque and Early music timbres—both on period instruments and the modern piano—Mujie curates imaginative recital programmes that redefine traditional sonorities. In 2025, she won major chamber music competitions and gave numerous performances across Scotland, collaborating with string and woodwind players on both historical and contemporary instruments. As a young artist with the prestigious Leeds Song 2025 programme, she also presented sensitive yet virtuosic recitals with her duo partner.
Mujie Yan completed her Bachelor of Music with First Class Honours at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS), studying under Fali Pavri and Petras Geniušas. She went on to earn her Master of Music degree at the RCS as well, studying with Professor Aaron Shorr and Sinae Lee. Throughout the last four years, Mujie also developed as a harpsichordist under the guidance of Jan Waterfield.
Born in Shaanxi, China, Mujie developed a love for music from the age of seven, engaging in vocal training, dance, and piano. At thirteen, she moved to Budapest, Hungary, where she continued piano as a hobby under the guidance of Dr. Javier López Jorge, a doctoral student at the Liszt Academy at the time. His mentorship inspired her to pursue piano professionally. By seventeen, she was studying regularly with distinguished piano professor Balázs Szokolay from the Liszt Academy. From late 2018, she also received coaching from Dr. Tallis Barker and Tony Chen Lin. After completing the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma with Higher Level Music (7/7), she was successfully admitted to the RCS under scholarships. In 2019, Mujie began her harpsichord studies with Agnes Ratkó at the Liszt Academy.
Mujie took part in numerous masterclasses with renowned pianists, including Gábor Eckhardt, Dmitri Alexeev, Steven Osborne, and Boris Berman. In 2022, she and her piano duo partner were selected for the prestigious summer academy at Accademia Chigiana, studying with Lilya Zilberstein.
She has performed in venues such as Párbeszéd Háza, Pasaréti Közösségi Ház, and the Budapest Museum of Music History. In the UK, her performances include solo and chamber recitals at St. Cecilia’s Hall, Winchester Cathedral, St Giles’ Cathedral, Howard Assembly Room, Leeds Conservatoire, Glasgow Cathedral, and various RCS venues. She has appeared as a timpanist at St James’s Piccadilly (London) under Timothy Redmond, and as an orchestral pianist with both the RCS Chamber Orchestra and RCS Percussion Ensemble. Most recently, she performed as harpsichordist in a chamber orchestra led by the late professor and conductor David Watkin, performing Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 3.
Mujie’s repertoire spans solo, chamber, and collaborative works. Highlights include Nights in the Gardens of Spain by M. de Falla, Janáček’s 1.X.1905 Sonata, Scriabin’s Piano Sonatas Nos. 4 and 9, and Dvořák’s Piano Concerto. Her collaborative performances include Knoxville: Summer of 1915 by Barber, Sonata for Violin and Piano by Lekeu, and Sonata for Double Bass and Piano by Mišek. As part of her piano duo, she explores works such as Fantasy for Two Pianos by Scriabin and Sonata for Two Pianos, Op. 34b by Brahms. Their recent recital featured orchestral works transcribed for two pianos by S. Lyapunov and A. Glazunov.
Mujie has received numerous awards in both solo and chamber categories. She was a semi-finalist in the BBC Radio Scotland Young Classical Musician 2024 competition. With her piano duo Duo Immersio, she won the Peter Lindsay Miller Piano Duo Prize (2024). In voice and piano, she has received First Prize in the Elgar Spedding Lieder Prize (2024) and the Hugh S. Robertson Scots Song Prize (2022), and Second Prize in the Tony and Tania Webster Prize for Voice and Piano (2022). Alongside her cellist and violinist, she was also a two-time winner of the Louis Carus Duo Ensemble Prize (2021).
Experiences
1st Prize
Peter Lindsay Miller Piano Duo Competition 2024.
1st Prize
Elgar Spedding Lieder Competition for Voice and Piano 2023.
Semi-Finalist
BBC Radio Scotland Young Classical Musician 2024.
1st Prize
Louis Carus Duo Prize for Strings and Piano 2021.
1st Prize
Hugh S Roberton Scots Song Competition for Voice and Piano 2021.