Yin Zhiyang started learning the violin and dizi from his father at the age of eight and later, under the tutelage of professor of Shenyang Conservatory of Music, Kong Qingshan and professor of China Conservatory of Music, Zhang Weiliang. After graduating from the China Conservatory of Music in 1991, he served in the China Central Song and Dance Troupe as a soloist. He joined the SCO in October 1997 as a dizi performer and he is currently the Dizi Principal and Section Leader (Winds & Percussion). He is also the guest professor of Shenyang Conservatory of Music.

Yin Zhiyang received an Outstanding Performance Award at the China National Chinese Music Competition Shan Cheng Cup in 1989 and came in First at the China Central Song and Dance Troupe Audition in 1992. In 1988, Yin Zhiyang performed Bangdi Concerto by Taiwanese composer Ma Shuilong at the Beijing Concert Hall with the China Central Chinese Orchestra, and received critical acclaim for his interpretation. He held a well-received solo recital at the Beijing Concert Hall in 1990, and contributed to music education as an adjudicator with the First Beijing Primary and Secondary School Chinese Instrumental Music Competition in 1994.

He has also produced a solo album of dizi recital pieces. Yin Zhiyang has participated in performances in China, Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Hungary, England, France, Taiwan, and Macau. His signature rendition of Divine Melody at the Singapore Arts Festival and London’s Barbican Centre remains talked about today in music circles. A lively music director and chamber musician, he has led performances of works including Butterfly Dreams Concerto, Capriccio of Liu San Jie, San Jie and Cang. In 2008, he performed with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra on Zhu Jian-er’s Fourth Symphony. Later in the same year, he performed Three Variations of the Parting at Yangguan as a soloist in a concert at The Sage Gateshead arts centre in the United Kingdom, with a chamber group from the SCO. In 2009, he returned to the UK with the orchestra, performing at the Edinburgh International Festival as a dizi soloist. In 2010, he held a concert for himself and his students proving his success once again as a remarkable artist.