The violist Diyang Mei has been Principal Viola of the Berlin Philharmonic since 2022 and holds a guest professorship at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin. Since his resounding success at the prestigious International ARD Music Competition in 2018, where he won first prize in the viola category, the Audience Prize, and several special prizes, Diyang Mei has rapidly advanced his international career. Even prior to that, he had already won numerous first prizes, including at the 52nd International Instrumental Competition for Viola in Markneukirchen (2017), the International Max Rostal Music Competition for Viola in Berlin (2015), the Kulturkreis Gasteig Music Prize for Strings in Munich (2015), the 19th International Brahms Competition for Viola in Austria (2012), the IVC Young Artist Competition in Rochester (2012), and the 10th International Viola and Cello Competition in Villa de Llanes, Spain (2008).
Since 2018, Diyang Mei has been supported as a BBT Artist by the London-based Borletti-Buitoni Trust, which has also supported artists such as Nicolas Altstaedt, Gautier Capuçon, Veronica Eberle, Sol Gabetta, Vilde Frang, Antoine Tamestit, and Kathia Buniatishvili.
From 2019 to 2022, he served as Principal Viola of the Munich Philharmonic.
As a soloist, Diyang Mei has performed with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the SWR Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Munich Symphony Orchestra, the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken, and at festivals including the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, the Schwetzingen SWR Festival, the Black Forest Music Festival, and the Mozartfest Würzburg.
Highlights of the 2024 season include his solo appearances with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie under the direction of Brett Dean and with the China Philharmonic Orchestra at the National Centre for the Performing Arts under the direction of Christoph Eschenbach.
A sought-after chamber musician, Diyang Mei has performed with renowned musicians and ensembles such as Sir András Schiff, Frans Helmerson, Emmanuel Pahud, Albrecht Mayer, Sabine Meyer, Christoph Prégardien, Noah Bendix-Balgley, Kian Soltani, Pablo Ferrández, the Belcea Quartet, and the Berlin Baroque Soloists, with whom he toured extensively in China in 2023.
In 2024, two CDs featuring Diyang Mei as soloist were released:
Mozart: Viola Concerto, Sinfonia Concertante, recorded with the Berlin Baroque Soloists (Sony Classical);
Viola concertos by Walton and Bowen, recorded with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie under Brett Dean (SWR Music/Naxos).
His first solo album was released in 2019, devoted to the related genres of the chaconne and passacaglia, featuring works by Bach, Biber, Hindemith, Britten, and Ligeti. In 2022, his second album, Viola à L’École de Paris, was released on the CAvI Music label (a Deutsche Grammophon company), featuring works for viola and piano by Tcherepnin, Harsányi, Tansman, and Mihalovici.
The musician performs on an Antonio Mariani viola (Pesaro, c. 1646), generously loaned by a member of the Stretton Society.