A three-time winner of the UNICEF Youth Concerts Competition, Aaron Dai has concertized as a pianist around the country, performing in cities such as New York, Philadelphia, Houston, Phoenix, and San Francisco. His playing has been called "masterful" and "brilliant," and described as a "lyrical, beautifully realized, and finely detailed performance" (Jon Liechty, LeGambit).

A graduate of the Mannes College of Music, Mr. Dai has studied with Rachael Hayes, Denise Kahn, and Hugo Goldenzweig. Other studies include Russian piano performance with Inessa Zaretsky (Mannes), and accompaniment and collaborative piano with Marshall Williamson (Juilliard). His venture into serious composition began at the University of Pennsylvania under the auspices of George Crumb, and he has since worked with composers Thomas Addison and Rudolph Palmer. His Birthday Variations debuted in New York in April 2004, and the world premiere of his Unionville Suite was performed in May 2006 by the City Orchestra of New York. More recently, his acclaimed “The Night Before Christmas” for Narrator and Orchestra has been performed by The Chelsea Symphony and actors Richard Kind and Ana Gasteyer. In collaboration with choreographer Kevin Hill, he is currently working on a new ballet based on the 1930 novel Dance Night by Dawn Powell, and was recently commissioned to write a song cycle on the poems of W.H. Auden.

An accomplished performer of chamber music and larger collaborative works, Mr. Dai is a founding member of the Claremont Chamber Orchestra and The Chelsea Symphony. He is also a published author and architect, and holds architecture degrees from Columbia University and the University of Houston. Mr. Dai lives and teaches in New York City.