Jesse Hu is an accomplished pianist from the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University. He won top prizes in both the Lamont Concerto Competition in Denver and the Taipei Student Piano Competition in Taiwan. Honored with the Sarah Manion Award for Excellence in Piano and the Outstanding Recital Award from the Lamont School of Music, Jesse has established himself as a versatile and engaging performer. His international performances include appearances at the Gijón Music Festival in Spain and the Orford Music Festival in Canada. In 2019, he appeared at Taiwan’s National Concert Hall as a winner of the Young Artist Competition, hosted by the Peabody Alumni Society Taiwan Chapter. In 2022, he made his debut as a soloist with the University Symphony Orchestra, performing Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto after winning the UGA Concerto Competition.

A passionate chamber musician, Jesse has collaborated extensively with vocalists and instrumentalists alike. During his studies at Peabody, he studied chamber music with Maria Hahn, Judith Ingolfsson, and Ellen Mack, performing regularly in recitals and working as the accompanist for voice diction classes and as a staff pianist for the preparatory string department. Dedicated to musical outreach, he also participated in community performances at retirement homes around Baltimore, Maryland.

Currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Georgia under the guidance of Liza Stepanova, Jesse is involved in both teaching and performance. He teaches undergraduate piano courses required for all music majors, offers individual instruction to advanced piano minors, and serves on the faculty of the Community Music School. At UGA, he also contributes administratively as an assistant for Chamber Music Athens, where he has helped organize concerts, masterclasses, and social media initiatives. In Athens, Georgia, he frequently performs with his piano trio, alongside Alexis Boylan and Thomas LaMon, through Chamber Music Athens.

Jesse holds a Master of Music in Piano Performance from Peabody, where he studied with Benjamin Pasternack, and a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from the University of Denver, under Stephanie Cheng. He has also had the privilege of working with distinguished artists including Jonathan Biss, Sara Davis Buechner, Massimiliano Ferrati, Claire Huangci, Julian Martin, Murray Perahia, Jerome Rose, Victor Rosenbaum, Ann Schein, Logan Skelton, Itamar Zorman, Wu Han, and the Borromeo String Quartet, deepening his artistry across solo and collaborative performance.