Joyce Yang, piano

In June 2005, at nineteen years of age, Yang was awarded the silver medal at the Twelfth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. The prize package included $20,000, three years of U.S. concert engagements and a compact disc recording on the harmonia mundi usa label. The youngest of the Cliburn Competition's participants, she was the recipient of both the Steven De Groote Memorial Award for the Best Performance of Chamber Music as well as the Beverley Taylor Smith Award for the Best Performance of a New Work. Of her spectacular finish at one of the world's most prestigious showcases for young talent, she told reporters, "I'm still dreaming. "

The dream continued in the summer of 2006 as Yang appeared with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Mann Center, the Chicago Symphony at the Ravinia Festival, the Aspen Symphony and the season opening of the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center. In November 2006 she made her New York Philharmonic debut with Lorin Maazel in Avery Fisher Hall, preceded by concerts with them in Korea. This association was followed by 2007 performances in New York City and Vail, Colorado, and continues with engagements for the coming season. Her 2006-2007 season also included appearances with the symphonies of Houston, Indianapolis, Fort Worth, Colorado, Kansas City, Colorado Springs and Orlando as well as numerous recitals throughout North America and in Europe.

Yang continues to captivate audiences and colleagues with her warm and generous personality, combined with musicianship that belies her age. Upcoming engagements include recitals in Chicago presented by the Chicago Symphony, the Tonhalle in Zurich, Ft. Worth for the Van Cliburn Foundation, Seoul, Korea, and six recitals in Hawaii. She appears with no fewer than fifteen orchestras throughout North America and continues her collaboration with the Takacs Quartet.

Born in Seoul, Korea, Yang received her first piano lessons at age four from her aunt. She quickly took to the instrument, which she received as a birthday present, and over the next few years won several national piano competitions in Korea. By age ten she had entered the Korean National Conservatory, and subsequently made a number of concerto and recital appearances in Seoul and Taejon. In 1997, Yang moved to the United States to begin studies at the pre-college division of the Juilliard School of Music in New York.

During her first year at Juilliard, she won its Pre-College Division Concerto Competition. In April 1999 she was invited to perform at a benefit concert with the Juilliard Orchestra, conducted by Leonard Slatkin. Winning the Philadelphia Orchestra s Greenfield Competition led to a performance of the Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Philadelphia Orchestra when she was just twelve.

Joyce Yang is featured in In the Heart of Music, the film documentary about the 2005 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Her debut disc distributed by harmonia mundi usa includes live performances of works by Bach, Liszt, Scarlatti and the Australian composer Carl Vine. She currently resides in New York City where she attends the Juilliard School as a student of Dr. Yohaved Kaplinsky.

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