The Talent 2026 Season 1 Episode 2: Pianists Waters Zhang and Diego Yu
This week’s episode will feature performances from two pianists - Waters Zhang and Diego Yu. The episode features performances by Bach, Granados, Chopin and Carl Vine. The performers receive feedback from regular mentor Daniel Le and guest mentor Kevin Tamanini, and chat with host Kyla Matsuura-Miller about their musical journeys!
Waters Zhang
Piano
Waters Xiyuan Zhang, is 13 years old and a Year 8 student at Melbourne Grammar School.
He began playing the piano at the age of five and the violin at six. Waters studies piano with Christine Luo and was awarded the A.mus.A Diploma in 2023. He studies violin with Mark Mogilevski and was awarded the A.mus.A Diploma in 2025.
As a musician, Waters has won some competitions including international and national. He was invited to perform in the Piano Star International Competition Winners’ Concert at Carnegie Hall in New York in 2025.
Waters is a keen chamber violinist and has been involved in MYO and MCYAA (2022, 2023 and 2024). He currently performs with the school Orchestra and String Orchestra.
Outside of music, Waters enjoys reading, travelling and playing tennis.
Waters performed:
Prelude and Fugue in C Sharp Major BMV 848 by J.S. Bach
Allegro de Concierto by Enrique Granados
Diego Yu
Pianist
Diego Yu is a 15-year-old piano student of Glenn Riddle. In May 2024, he made his concerto debut, performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major with the Dandenong Ranges Symphony Orchestra conducted by Carlos del Cueto, and in April 2026 he has been invited to perform Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.9, K 271 in Eb major with the Mozart Festival Chamber Players at 45 Downstairs for the 2026 Mozart Piano Concerto Festival. Diego has presented solo recitals for the Austral Salon, St. Paul's Cathedral and for Scot’s Church Music Matinees. In 2025 Diego was awarded his LMusA with Distinction, and as a result has been invited to perform at the 2026 AMEB Graduation Ceremony. Other awards include 2nd prize in the national PolMusicA Competition and being selected as a semi-finalist in the 2024 Young Lev-Vlassenko Piano Competition. Diego is a member of the LED Piano Trio, which won multiple prizes in the 2025 Strike-A-Chord Chamber Music Competition. He enjoys both playing as a soloist and in a chamber ensemble, and some of his other hobbies include table tennis and chess.
Diego performed:
Carl Vine: Piano Sonata No. 1, mvt. I (8'30")
Frederic Chopin: Etude in A minor, Op. 25 No. 11 (3'50")