Sara began her piano studies at the age of six in South Korea and studied for several years with Soo Jung Shin, winning several regional competitions including Dong-A Piano Competition and the Jung ang il bo competition. She moved to Moscow to study piano with Sergei Dorensky and Mikhail Voskresensky at the Tchaikovsky Music School in Moscow and won many awards from the school including its Outstanding Performance Award. She graduated from central music school of the Moscow Tchaikovsky conservatory.

She has since been a prize winner in international and national competitions including the USA Cincinnati World Piano Competition, grand prize (2003); Citta di Barletta in Italy, first prize (2005); Austria International Chopin Piano Competition, second prize and best performance prize (2010); Moscow Young Pianist Competition (2012), and the Lyon International Piano Competition (2012). She won the University of Auckland Graduation Gala Concerto Competition in 2017 and has played concerts in world renowned halls such as Carnegie Hall (USA), the Rachmaninoff Hall of Moscow Conservatory, the Wiener Saal of Mozarteum (Austria), Konzertsal Handel Karee Haus (Germany), and Lyon Conservatory Hall (France). She has participated in masterclass with acclaimed pianists such as Dimitri Bashkirov, Andrej Jasinski, Pavel Gililov, Boris Giltburg. Currently she is studying at the University of Auckland with Rae de Lisle and Stephen de Pledge.

New Zealand pianist Siyu Sun has performed as a recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber musician in many of the world’s leading concert halls. Highlights include the Royal Albert Hall, Steinway Hall London, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, St. James Church Piccadilly, Milton Court Concert Hall, Auckland Town Hall, and Queensland Conservatorium Hall.

Siyu has won national and international competitions; the Guildhall Romantic Prize in London, Auckland Chamber Music Society Prize, and National Concerto Competition. Recently, she was a finalist in the keyboard section of the Royal Overseas League competition, winner of the Tait Memorial Prize for an Outstanding Australian/New Zealand Musician, and prize winner of the Sheepdrove International Competition. She has been a semi-finalist in the Birmingham International Piano Competition, Florence International Music Competition and 28th International Piano Competition 2023 Giulio Rospigliosi. As a concerto soloist, Siyu has performed with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and Wellington Chamber Orchestra.

Also a passionate chamber musician, Siyu was invited to perform in the 2022 BBC Total Immersion concert in collaboration with the Barbican. She was selected to perform in a two piano team as part of GSMD’s Summer Chamber Music Festival of July 2021 and in 2022 she will perform with Wind Quintet, in collaboration with distinguished flautist, Philippa Davies. Siyu has performed in the NZSO National Youth Orchestra on both French horn and orchestral piano.

Siyu recently completed an Artist Diploma with Distinction, the highest level of taught post-graduate study, at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Professors Ronan O'Hora and Carole Presland. 

In 2025 Siyu is supported by the Guildhall School Trust, Patricia Pratt and Kiwi Music Scholarship Trust, Anne Bellam, Inspire Foundation, Dame Malvina Major Foundation, Kathleen Marydon Travelling Scholarship, Jack McGill Music Scholarship. She holds prizes including the Best New Zealand Pianist Prize, Virtuoso Prize, and Blues Award for most Meritorious Performance in the Arts and Culture.