Pianist Natalie Zhu has toured with violinist Hilary Hahn as an accompanist and also has notable careers as a soloist and chamber musician. In demand for festival appearances, Zhu is the artistic director of Rhode Island's Kingston Chamber Music Festival. Zhu scored a major breakthrough in 1997 when she was chosen as accompanist by Hilary Hahn, a fellow Curtis student. Their touring partnership lasted for some years and spawned an album of Mozart violin-and-piano sonatas in 2005. She followed that up with the recital album Images, which appeared in 2007. Zhu appeared as accompanist on several Suzuki Violin School albums, and in 2023, she backed cellist Clancy Newman on the album From Method to Madness: The American Sound.