Yao Jue’s professional career has been punctuated by widely acclaimed performances throughout Asia, Europe and the United States. Music critics have universally employed phrases such as "technically impressive and intensely moving", "impeccable technique",  “captivating", "poetic", "stylish" and "lustrous" to describe her performance. She is the only violinist to be included in the 1995 book "China's Famous Females" published by the International Women's Congress in Beijing. Her photo graces the cover with the caption "Jue Yao's playing shows that the Chinese have reached a world class level in music making".

Yao was a council member of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, the Chairlady of the Academic Affairs Committee from 2000 to 2006 and a council member of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council from 2005 to 2010.  Currently, Yao serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Music and Dance Fund and a member of the programme committee of the Hong Kong Arts Festival. She is also a council member of The National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, and the first Chinese musician to be received by President Castro (1926-2016) of Cuba.

​

Yao was awarded a full scholarship by the San Francisco Conservatory of Music to continue her violin studies with Zaven Melikian. Later she graduated from the Juilliard School in New York where she studied under Dorothy DeLay. Yao has performed numerous concerts and at music festivals world-wide. She made her New York recital debut before a standing room-only audience at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall in 1993, and has performed in numerous international festivals and major concert halls, including The Ravinia Music Festival, The Aspen Music Festival, The Yachats Music Festival; The Avery Fisher Hall, The Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, The Herbst Theatre and The Tchaikovsky Hall. Orchestras with which she has performed in concert are: Brooklyn Philharmonic, Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra, Russia Philharmonic Orchestra, Honolulu Symphony Orchestra, Prague Chamber Orchestra, Suk Chamber Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba, Japan Century Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Little Orchestra Society of New York, Central Philharmonic of China, China National Symphony Orchestra, China Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra, Radio Orchestra of Shanghai, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic, Shanghai Chinese Orchestra, Hong Kong Sinfonietta and Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra. In 2000, Ms. Yao was the featured soloist with the China National Symphony Orchestra on their concert tour of Mexico.

Her expanding discography includes many classic works of the Chinese repertoire. Her most popular compact disc, Butterfly Lovers Violin Concert, with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra was also filmed as an MTV music video. Up to now, Ms. Yao has released total of 9 CD and DVD solo albums. 

Yao founded the "Yao Jue Music Academy" in 2002. She also founded the “Hong Kong String Orchestra” in 2013. Yao was awarded the “Outstanding Violinist Rado Timeless Award” in 2002, the “Ten Outstanding Young Persons of Hong Kong" in 2004, the “2005 Jessica Most Successful Women” in 2005, the “Outstanding Women Professionals Award” of Hong Kong Women Professionals & Entrepreneurs Association in 2008 and the “Outstanding Women of the Year” of Hong Kong Women Development Association in 2012. She also served as the University Artist of the University of Hong Kong from 2008 to 2010. Yao was appointed to be a Justice of the Peace in Hong Kong in 2013. From 2014-2015, she was appointed the Artist-in-Residence of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and was conferred the title of University Fellowship in 2015. She was awarded the Bronze Bauhinia Star (BBS) by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in 2017.

​

Yao plays a 1713 Stradivarius violin.