Grew up in a musical family in Hong Kong, Alvin Yu (余漢維) started to play the piano and violin when he was six. In his middle-school years, he and his two elder brothers formed the Yu’s Trio and performed in multiple venues such as his school’s Music Marathon concerts and for Radio Hong Kong. He was the Chief Pianist and Chief Organist in his high school, St. Paul’s College. He was also Conductor of the School Choir, who led the choir to win the Best Boy’s Choir award in the Hong Kong Music Festival 2002.
Yu obtained his Bachelor of Music degree summa cum laude from the University of Oregon in 2007, where he studied Composition and Viola Performance. He graduated from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music with a Master’s degree in Music Theory in 2011. Yu focused on composing choral music in the past few years. He has been commissioned by the Joint Choir of the Portland Association of Chinese Evangelists (PACE) to compose anthems for their evangelical meeting and thanksgiving events. He has been writing choral music for the Psalms recently. His works have been performed by New Heart Music Ministries (新心音樂事工), church choirs of the Atlanta Chinese Christian Church, Atlanta Chinese Christian Church North, and Evangelical Chinese Church of Seattle.
Other than composing, Yu is also fond of showcasing Chinese music to the American audiences in occasions such as the celebration for Chinese New Year, where he performs traditional Chinese music on the two-string instrument Erhu (二胡). Yu started learning the Erhu when his high school’s Chinese Orchestra was out of Erhu players. He was one of a few violinists who was recruited to learn the Erhu. Since then, Yu has enjoyed playing this unique instrument.
余漢維（Alvin）自小在一個音樂家庭長大。母親是鋼琴和聲樂老師，父親會彈琴。他的兩個哥哥也非常熱愛音樂：二哥是一位大學大提琴教授，而大哥則正在完成他的音樂博士。 從小在教會長大的Alvin，家裡有很多詩歌的錄音帶和歌譜。他小時候就很喜歡聽詩歌，並喜歡拿起詩歌歌譜來唱和彈奏。1997年信主後，在教會開始參與司琴、詩班和敬拜團的服事至今。
中學時期，Alvin在非常注重音樂的香港聖保羅書院就讀，在校參與各樣的音樂課外活動，包括學校早會的司琴、合唱團、中樂團和管弦樂團等等。Alvin曾擔任合唱團的指揮，並帶領合唱團贏得香港校際音樂節的《最佳男聲合唱團》榮譽。
2002年移民到美國後，Alvin在University of Oregon主修音樂，隨後在Indiana University完成音樂理論的碩士學位。2013年被Portland華人教會的聯合詩班邀請為他們的佈道會和感恩節聚會編寫合唱曲，開始了他寫作合唱曲的心路歷程。他寫的詩歌曾被新心音樂事工，以及亞特蘭大和西雅圖的教會使用。
他現在與妻子和女兒定居亞特蘭大。