Born in Gulangyu, China, Yin Chengzong made his debut solo appearance when he was nine years old. He was accepted by Shanghai Conservatory of Music at twelve, and later was trained at Central Conservatory of music in Beijing. At 17, Yin won first prize at the International Vienna Youth Piano Competition in Austria. He was the 2nd prize winner at the International Tchaikovsky Competition when he was 20 years old. Studying at the Leningrad Conservatory, Yin worked with Tatyana Kravchenko during the 1960s. After returning from Russia, he served as the principal soloist with the Central Philharmonic in Beijing for 18 years.

Since his debut in 1983, Yin Chengzong has appeared seven times, performing solo recitals and concerto concerts, at Carnegie Hall's Isaac Stern Auditorium. Frequently performing in Russia, he played in St. Petersburg's Shostakovich Philharmonic Hall, New York's Lincoln Center and Vienna's Golden Hall. Highlights of Yin's resent engagements including Beijing's National Centre for the Performing Arts, as well as solo recitals in Toronto, Boston, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

In 1980, Yin Chengzong was listed in the New Grove Dictionary as one of the four most important Chinese artists, along with Nie Er, Xian Xihai and Ma Sicong. Internationally, through the years, Yin has performed under the baton of Eugene Ormandy with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Claudio Abbado with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Kirill Kondrashin with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, and Sir Malcolm Sargent with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra.

Since 1990s, Yin has played hundreds of concerts, solo or with major orchestras, all over China, even transporting his Steinway piano whenever he performed. Presenting standard classical piano works, Yin not only concertizes in China, but has also appeared in Australia, Canada, Germany, Finland, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, among others.

Having released more than 30 albums, Yin Chengzong can be heard on DR Classics, ABC, Marco Polo, China Records and Moscow labels. His recent recordings are The Yellow River Piano Concerto, The Legend of the Red Lantern, Chinese Ancient Music Album, and Tchaikovsky's The Seasons, as well as piano solo works by Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt and Debussy. Playing Liszt's Piano Concerto No.2 and Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No.1, Yin has appeared in several documentary films, including “Blooming of Hundred Flowers”, “Piano Accompaniment for the Legend of the Red Lantern”, “March! Red China” and “Spring of Music”, produced in China, Russia and the United Kingdom.

Since moving to the United States in 1983, a professor and an artist-in-residence, Yin Chengzong has taught at the Cleveland Institute of Music. From his studios in New York and China, Yin's students included Lang Lang, Ilya Itin and Edith Chen. Yin is a Steinway Artist. A celebration event for Yin Chengzong's “30th Anniversary Debut at Carnegie Hall” will be held on November 23, 2013.