The Chinese pianist and conductor Ya-ou Xie has appeared with grand orchestras including the China National Symphony Orchestra and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra. She is regularly invited to perform at international festivals, among them MaerzMusik Berlin, the SoundBridge Festival Malaysia and Shanghai New Music Week.

As a winner of important prizes at the Concours international de piano d’Orléans (2004), Concours Olivier Messiaen (2000), Concorso Premio Jaén (2002), and the International Piano Competition Lake Como (2005), she received accolades for her interpretation of works by Franz Liszt, Claude Debussy, Arnold Schönberg, George Crumb, and Luciano Berio. She studied piano with Wan Ing Ong (Stuttgart), Hans Leygraf (Berlin), Pascal Devoyon (Berlin), Pierre-Laurent Aimard (Paris), Claude Helffer (Paris), Zhao Pingguo (Beijing) and Li Mingqiang (Shanghai), orchestral conducting with Xiaotong Huang (Shanghai) and Diego Masson (Dartington), an choral conducting with Geshun Ma (Shanghai).

Alongside classical repertoire, both Chinese and Western contemporary music occupy an important place in Ya-ou Xie's artistic achievement. She has collaborated with composers such as George Crumb, Hugues Dufourt, and Helmut Lachenmann. She is cofounder and musical director of the outstanding ensemble Berlin PianoPercussion, which has commissioned and given premieres to over 100 new works. 

Ya-ou Xie is guest professor at Wuhan Conservatory Music, Hainan University and instructor at SRH University. 

Her CDs include works by Debussy, Ravel, Schönberg, Messiaen, and Crumb, among others.