Yi-Jia Susanne Hou (simplified Chinese: 侯以嘉; pinyin: Hóu Yǐjiā, born December 7, 1977, Shanghai, China) is a Canadian violinist.

Internationally celebrated violinist Yi-Jia Susanne Hou is the first ever violinist in history to capture 3 Gold Medals with unanimous decisions at 3 International Violin Competitions: Concours International Long-Thibaud (France, 1999), Lipizer International Violin Competition (Italy, 1999) and Sarasate International Violin Competition (Spain, 1997.)

At 17, Hou performed the most challenging pieces ever written for the violin: Paganini’s Twenty-four Caprices for Solo Violin, in live recitals in Toronto and Aspen. Ms. Hou has also performed all 10 of Beethoven’s Piano and Violin Sonatas in New York as well as the complete collection of Brahms Violin and Piano Sonatas and Piano Trios.

Born into a musical family, Ms. Hou had music surrounding her all her life. Both her mother and father are violinists, and thus at the tender age of 4, Hou began studying violin with her father, Alec Hou. Less than a year later, she gave her first public performance and was received with a standing ovation. At nine, the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto invited her as a scholarship student. Since then, Hou has had scholarships and fellowships at the Aspen Music Festival for nine summers, as well as The Juilliard School where she received her Bachelor of music as a student of Dorothy DeLay and Naoko Tanaka in 2000. She then went on to do a 1-year Masters program, and completed the highly acclaimed Artist Diploma Program in Juilliard with Cho Liang Lin and Naoko Tanaka.

“My parents were both great violinists of a different time and world. However their career growth was stunted due to world circumstances and they did not have the opportunities I do now. Their life experiences have had a deep impact on me and have been an unwavering source of inspiration. I have never taken for granted my ‘gift’ of being able to pursue what I love. Too often people take opportunities for granted because we live in such a free world, but growing up knowing both my parents nearly died for what they believed in gives me the utmost appreciation and respect for our gift of life and freedom of dreams.

In my lifetime, I hope to share with all my audiences worldwide my passion and love for what I do. I hope to encourage everyone to pursue their own dreams and I hope to actively advocate cultural exchange and musical education in young and old alike. It is a grand and humble service to be an artist in our world and I merely hope to do my part.” (edited for brevity, full biography text can be found at http://www.susannehou.com/about )

DISCOGRAPHY

You Can Never Have Too Many Suites (2008)
de Falla Suite of Spanish Folk Songs, Shostakovich Four Preludes, Kreisler Liebesfreud, Schön Rosmarin & Syncopation, Yang Wong Luo Bin Suite of Folksongs & Dances, Tang New Face of my Motherland, and Li Ci Li Flower.
Fantasy (2007)
Schubert's Fantasia and Ave Maria, Gounod's Faust and Sarasate's Faust Fantasy
Chen Yi (2003)
Momentum / Shui, Lin, Hou, Marshall, Singapore SO
Fire & Ice (2000)
Sibelius Violin Concerto and shorter works by Sarasate
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