"Ya-ou Xie has the ability to create a magical-hallucinatory atmosphere with her piano playing," commented the French magazine "Lettre du Musicien".

The pianist (and conductor) was born in Guizhou, a southwestern province of China. As a soloist, she has performed with renowned orchestras such as the China National Orchestra, Neue Philharmonie Westfalen, and the Orchestre National de Lille. Ya-ou Xie is a prize winner of the Concours international de piano d'Orléans, the Concurso Internacional de Piano “Premio Jaén”, and the Concours Olivier Messiaen, and has received special recognition for her interpretation of the works of Franz Liszt, Claude Debussy, and Arnold Schoenberg.

Her teachers include Wan Ing Ong (Stuttgart), Hans Leygraf (Berlin), Pascal Devoyon (Berlin), Pierre-Laurent Aimard (Paris), Claude Helffer (Paris), Zhao Pingguo (Beijing), and Li Mingqiang (Shanghai).

In addition to her piano training, Ya-ou Xie studied orchestral conducting with Huang Xiaotong and choral conducting with Ma Geshun in Shanghai. She is the co-founder and director of the international ensemble "Berlin PianoPercussion". In April 2016, the ensemble was invited to tour in the United States and gave concerts and master classes at the University of Virginia and the University of Miami.

Ya-ou Xie is a guest professor at Ningxia University, Hainan University, and Guizhou Normal University, as well as the artistic director of the online art school iartschool.

In January 2017, Xie performed as a soloist at the opening concert of the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg.

In February 2017, Xie accepted an invitation from the world's largest piano manufacturer, Pearl River Piano Group, and became a Kayserburg Artist.