A Desperate Bid to Impress You…

Jenny Xu is a Canadian pianist, composer, and educator best known as the leader of FRIENDSHIP. As of Fall 2026, she is a doctoral resident at SUNY Stony Brook University under the mentorship of Grammy award-winning saxophonist Roxy Coss. Jenny is also an alumna of MSM (MM ’19, summa cum laude), Berklee College of Music (BM ’16, summa cum laude), and the Royal Conservatory of Music (ARCT ‘13 with honors).

In addition to regular appearances as both a leader and sidewoman on the NYC and international jazz scenes, Jenny is a highly sought-after educator, presently serving on the faculty of several distinguished institutions, including the Stanford Jazz Workshop, 92NY, Filomen M. D’Agostino Greenberg Music School, and the Calhoun School. In 2023 alone, Jenny was a semifinalist in the Herbie Hancock Institute International Jazz Piano Competition (formerly Thelonious Monk Piano Competition), Rubato International Piano Competition, Next Jazz Legacy Fellowship, and Jacksonville Jazz Piano Competition (formerly Great American Jazz Piano Competition).

Jenny is a recipient of numerous awards and accolades including the Stony Brook University Gelber Award (2026), the MSM Outreach Award (2019), Stingray Rising Star Award (2018), Downbeat Award (2018), Berklee Jazz Performance Award recipient (2016), Dal Richard’s Scholarship (2014), Robert Share Scholarship (2014), Yamaha Kando Award (2014), a full scholarship to Berklee college (2014) and was the first individual ever offered a full renewable scholarship to Humber College in Toronto (2014).

Throughout her career, Jenny has had the immense privilege of performing at venues such as Birdland (NYC), Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola (NYC), the Grammy Townhouse (NYC), the Kitano (NYC), Chris’ Jazz Cafe (Philadelphia, PA), the Perlman Arts Center (NYC), Bard College (NY), Florida Theater (Jacksonville, FL), the Camden Jazz Festival (Camden, ME), the AAPI Jazz Festival (Newark, NJ), the Berklee Performance Center (Boston, MA), the Toronto International Jazz Festival, the TD Ottawa International Jazz Festival, the TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival, the Methow Valley Jazz Festival (Winthrop, WA), Frankie’s Jazz Club (Vancouver), Pyatt Hall (Vancouver), the Oxford Theater (Oxford, AL), the Jazz Lounge (Toronto), and has opened for the likes of Herbie Hancock (2018) and Harold Mabern (2014).