Originally from Harbin, China, Yuan Gao learned to play Chinese traditional instruments at an early age. In 2013, Yuan entered the Shenyang Conservatory of Music achieving first place in the musicology major, majoring in instrumental bamboo flute. As a bamboo flute soloist, he has performed many large-scale Chinese national orchestral symphony concerts in the Youth National Orchestra of Shenyang Conservatory of Music.

After completing his degree and moving to Australia, Yuan also founded a music training school for Chinese traditional instrumental music education in Sydney.

As an operatic bass, Yuan Gao completed his Master‘s Degree in 2022 at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music (Opera Performance). During his studies, he performed principal roles with the Conservatorium Opera and NIDA, including Theseus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Sarastro in The Magic Flute, and John Grainger and Solo Bass in Percy – The Opera. He was supported by Greenberg-Gurney-Jensen Fund Scholarship. He also interned in the Capstone component of Opera Repertoire with Pinchgut Opera.

In 2023, Yuan was awarded a position in Pacific Opera’s 2023 Young Artist Program and is the recipient of the Chang Family Scholarship. As part of this program he will undertake a series of sessions and performances including Mendelssohn’s St Paulus in May, followed by roles in Pacific Opera’s Pocket Opera productions of Commendatore in Don Giovanni, directed by Cheryl Barker AO, and Don Basilio in The Barber of Seville, directed by Peter Coleman-Wright AO.

Concurrently, Yuan was accepted into Opera Queensland’s Young Artist Program for 2023 and most recently has made his company debut in the roles of Servant and First Apparition in Verdi’s Macbeth in the QPAC Concert Hall in March, as well as joining the Opera Queensland Chorus for the production.