Heralded as “dazzling, displaying his own versatility and exquisite control of his instrument” by the Butler Eagle, and “refreshing, shines in an evening of Mozart” by the Chautauquan Daily, Chinese-American pianist and Steinway Artist Alvin Zhu is internationally recognized for his artistry. Zhu has performed Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Gershwin, and Rachmaninoff concertos with orchestras around the world, appearing at Alice Tully Hall, Steinway Hall, Sydney Opera House, Beijing Concert Hall, Forbidden City Concert Hall, Tianjin Grand Theater, Palais du Congress, Stadio Olimpico, David Lawrence Convention Center, Paul and Morse Halls at Juilliard, the Amphitheater in Chautauqua, Sprague Hall at Yale University, and Joan and Irving Harris Hall in Aspen. He has recorded for NPR’s "From the Top" as a featured Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist, Pittsburgh’s WQED radio, Steinway’s Spirio player-piano catalog, Beijing Youth Radio, and CCTV 5 in China. He holds several prizes in international and national competitions including West Virginia, Patrick Price, and Pittsburgh Young Artist International Competitions. As juror, he has been on the panel of the 2024 Tianjin Juilliard Concerto (Piano Festival), 2024 Patrick W. Price (Texas State International Piano Festival), 2024 Lang Lang Shenzhen Music World Scholarship, 2024 Conero International, 2023 Lang Lang Futian National, 2022 Melbourne International, 2022 San Francisco International,  2021 Paris Vivace International, 2020 Singapore International, 2021 Franz Liszt Youth International, and the 2018 Steinway International piano competitions. As of 2023, he currently holds the position of Artistic Director of the International Piano Professionals Associations's (IPPA) China Division, and honorary positions as Overseas Artistic Consultant for both the Global Outstanding Chinese Artists Association (GOCAA) and the Suzhou Qiaolian Arts Ensemble.

He has given master classes at Yale, Soochow, Texas State, Brigham Young, Southern Methodist, and Weber State Universities; conservatories including Tianjin, Wuhan, Sichuan, Xinghai, and Shanghai; and musical organizations including Steinway Hall Toronto, Beijing, and Shanghai, Tianjin Grand Theater, and Lang Lang Music World Hangzhou and Shenzhen. As an educator and scholar, he is a recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship and has researched the musical contributions of his paternal grandfather Gong Yi Zhu, a master piano pedagogue whose influence in China is still widely felt today. He has been a guest lecturer at the United States Embassy in Beijing, The Juilliard School in New York, Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, and Soochow University in Taiwan.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Zhu produced a musical tribute entitled "Project Mompou" for healthcare and essential workers around the world. The video project features Zhu and five of his Tianjin Juilliard Pre-College students performing Spanish composer Federico Mompou's poignant "Impresiones Íntimas." 

Zhu holds a BM, MM, and DMA degrees in piano performance from the Juilliard School in New York under the tutelage of Yoheved Kaplinsky and Julian Martin. In 2019, Zhu joined the Tianjin Juilliard School, Juilliard's first branch campus, as the youngest professor of piano and music history in both Pre-college and Graduate divisions. Aside from teaching, he is also an active member of the Tianjin Juilliard Ensemble, the university's all-faculty chamber group. Zhu is represented by Steinway and NewThread ArtSpace.