Joyce Yang's News Blog

Upcoming Events

2012-01-13T13:21:00.001-08:00

Joyce Yang and the Charlotte Symphony, led by Grant Llewellyn, perform an exhilarating program of Liszt and Rachmaninoff tonight, January 12 and tomorrow, January 13. Next Tuesday, January 17, Joyce travels to Fort Worth, Texas to perform a solo recital, with a program that include works by Bach, Schubert, Debussy, Liebermann and Schumann. On January 20, Joyce returns to North Carolina for a duo recital with violinist Stefan Jackiw.

Watch a video of Joyce playing Lowell Liebermann’s Gargoyles, Op. 29, a work she will present in her Fort Worth recital:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1hk7PFiHic&feature=related

2011-10-21T09:36:00.000-07:00

Hear selections from my new CD "Collage," coming out November 1, 2011 on WNYC's weekly show Soundcheck, hosted by John Schaefer. Aired Wednesday October 19, 2011. Click here to listen!

2011-09-19T11:35:00.000-07:00

Please come celebrate the release of Joyce’s solo album, COLLAGE with Joyce and guests artists Giora Schmidt (the recepient of 2003 Avery Fisher Career Grant) and Liang Wang (Principal Oboe of the NY Philharmonic) at the beautiful Singer Hall.

Music of Saint-Saens, Franck, and Schumann will be performed followed by lavish hors d’oeuvres dinner and champagne.

Mamaroneck, New York
Sunday, 23 October 2011 - 4:00 PM

Spaces are limited, so call Sid Singer at 914-698-1240 to reserve your seat today!

Joyce Yang: on a Roll to the Hollywood Bowl

2011-09-07T13:22:00.000-07:00

What a summer for pianist Joyce Yang! Her appearances at several top U.S. music festivals - including her Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival debut, as well as performances at Brevard (NC), Bravo! Vail Valley, and La Jolla Summerfest - garnered ovations from both critics and audiences. Reviewing Yang's performance with the Aspen Festival Orchestra and Jaap van Zweden, the Aspen Times wrote, "Yang provided a beautifully natural, pure performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3. ... She had the confidence to let the music be what it is without pushing or pulling on it."

As soloist with the Russian National Orchestra at Festival del Sole, "Joyce Yang, 25, brought the audience to its feet for her electrifying playing of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2," according to the Napa Valley Register. Yang's summer season ends with a return to the Hollywood Bowl and the Los Angeles Philharmonic (Sep 8). She continues her close collaboration with the Milwaukee Symphony this fall and will be back again in February for her ongoing Rachmaninoff cycle with Edo de Waart.

Selected fall highlights:

Sep 8: Hollywood Bowl - Los Angeles Philharmonic/ Bramwell Tovey (Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 2)
Oct 11: Budapest; Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra/ Domonkos Héja (Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 2)
Nov 9: Milwaukee Symphony/ Francesco Lecce-Chong
(Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1)
Oct 24: CD release (Avie Records) Collage

(Scarlatti, Currier, Debussy, Liebermann, Schumann, Chopin/Liszt)
Nov 17: Eugene Symphony/Danail Rachev

(Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini)

Joyce Yang’s Whirlwind Summer

2011-07-12T12:24:00.000-07:00

Pianist Joyce Yang spent the Fourth of July packing for two straight months on the summer festival circuit, mere days after performing concertos in Asia, and with no respite from her red-letter spring. Following her Alice Tully Hall recital debut at Lincoln Center in May, she jumped in for an ill Yuja Wang as soloist in Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with the NAC Orchestra. The Ottawa Citizen described Yang's performance as "gripping." In June the 25-year-old Korean-American recorded her debut album, Collage, to be released this fall by Avie.

First in Yang’s high-profile appearances this summer is the Aspen Music Festival where she performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with Jaap van Zweden and the Music Festival Orchestra (July 10), and plays a recital with violinist Stefan Jackiw (July 16). She is soloist in Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Russian National Orchestra at the Festival del Sole in Napa (July 24) and at Brevard (July 29), and joins artistic director Anne-Marie McDermott at Bravo! Vail Valley for a “Two Piano Extravaganza” (Aug. 3).

Yang makes her debut at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival in recital (August 9) and plays a quartet of chamber music concerts, including the premiere of Marc-André Dalbavie's Piano Quartet with the Orion String Quartet (August 10-14). She reprises the Dalbavie at La Jolla SummerFest and joins the Tokyo String Quartet for music by Cynthia Lee Wong (August 16-21). For a look at Joyce Yang’s glittering fingerwork, view this YouTube clip of a rehearsal of the Tchaikovsky Concerto with Edo de Waart in Hong Kong last month.

Joyce Yang makes Lincoln Center recital debut May 5

2011-05-05T09:22:00.000-07:00

Pianist Joyce Yang had only finished her freshman year at Juilliard when she snared the silver medal at the 12th Van Cliburn International Competition, becoming the youngest prizewinner in the competition's history. Between classes, she toured the world, performing on multiple occasions with the New York Philharmonic, and the Chicago, San Francisco and Houston symphonies, among many others. In 2010 she received an Avery Fisher Career Grant. Now, Juilliard has given its celebrated alum the William Petschek Piano Recital Award: a recital at Alice Tully Hall. Previous Petschek recipients have included Jeremy Denk, Jon Kimura Parker and Orion Weiss.

Yang will perform works by Scarlatti, Debussy, Chopin-Liszt and Schumann, along with related contemporary pieces: Sebastian Currier's Scarlatti Cadences and Brainstorm and Lowell Liebermann's Gargoyles. The program is designed "to have each piece illuminate the one that follows," says Yang. View video of Yang performing Gargoyles.

The 25-year-old Korean American heads into the studio at the end of May to record a solo album. Global audiences were able to enjoy her recent performance of Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Sydney Symphony under Edo De Waart. The April 11 concert was streamed live via a new Android and iPhone mobile app, and touted as the debut of the world's first series of orchestral concerts to be streamed live through mobile applications, according to the Sydney Symphony and Telstra BigPond.

For more information, visit Joyce Yang's web site or the Opus 3 Artists web site.

Joyce Yang steps in for Lang Lang

2011-02-09T13:14:00.000-08:00

Pianist Joyce Yang pinch-hit for an indisposed Lang Lang in snowy Buffalo on January 29th with the Buffalo Philharmonic under JoAnn Falletta. The Buffalo News headline declared, "Yang is the real deal" after her performance of Rachmaninoff's second piano concerto. "She stepped into [Lang Lang's] shoes, at the last minute. And she did a fine job of it, too... The finale, written to bring the house down, did exactly that."

The 24-year-old pianist basked in warm climates and equally warm attention in recent weeks in a Florida recital with violinist Stefan Jackiw and her first collaboration with the Miró Quartet in California. "The first date is so exciting," Yang said in a La Jolla Chamber Music Society preview interview. "[Playing with a new group] is like going on a blind date with really good recommendations. See if the sparks fly."

They did. "Yang has been a formidable presence over the last three SummerFest seasons, clearly realizing the promise that garnered her the Silver Medal at the Van Cliburn International Competition in 2005. Her patrician touch and lithe phrasing in the Mozart Piano Quartet complemented the Miró strings at every turn." --SanDiego.com, 1/25/11 [Kenneth Herman]

Joyce Yang featured in New York City street piano event

2010-06-30T07:40:00.000-07:00

2010 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient Joyce Yang brings classical
music to the streets of New York in July during the "Play Me, I'm Yours"
festival presented by Sing For Hope. "Play Me, I'm Yours" is an artwork
by British artist Luke Jerram who has been touring the project globally
since 2008. From 9am-10pm each day, 60 pianos - each a work of art - are
available for anyone to play across New York City.

Joyce Yang is featured in the closing concert on Monday, July 5th;
the 2005 Van Cliburn Silver Medalist will play at 4 PM at Lincoln Center's
Hearst Plaza.

"Play Me, I'm Yours" officially launches Yang's busy summer. In July
she returns to the Chicago Symphony under conductor James Conlon at the
Ravinia festival for Bernstein's "Age of Anxiety" (July 11), performs at
recital at the Crested Butte Music Festival in Colorado (July 19), and
makes her San Francisco Symphony under Alondra de la Parra with
Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto (July 23). At the Aspen Music
Festival she performs Tchaikovsky with Leonard Slatkin, and chamber
music in California at La Jolla Summerfest (August 24 & 27).

The mission of Sing For Hope/Arts Activism in Action is to bring people
together through music. For artist Luke Jerram, "Play Me, I'm Yours" is
a catalyst for conversation. For more information, visit
http://www.streetpianos.com/nyc2010/

Article in Symphony Magazine: Joyce Yang receives Fisher Career Grant

2010-06-14T14:05:00.001-07:00

A Highly-Decorated Graduate

2010-06-14T13:21:00.000-07:00

On May 27th, Joyce Yang received her B.M. in Piano, graduating from The Juilliard School with special honor, as the recipient of the 2010 Arthur Rubinstein Prize, which came with an award $2000. The Prize, honoring the Polish-American pianist Arthur Rubinstein (1887-1982), has been awarded annually at Commencement since 1996 to an outstanding pianist chosen by the Dean and faculty. Previous winners of the Prize include Hong Xu, Ran Dank, Konstantin Soukhovetski, Ron Regev, Shai Wosner, Chuan Qin and Helen Huang.

In addition, Yang was recently selected by The Julliard School to receive an award in memory of legendary pianist Samuel Sanders. The award was given by Martin Sanders, Samuel's brother and Board vice chair of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. As a result of this honor, Yang will play a recital at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art on November 6th.

She recently sat down for an interview and performance with NPR's Fred Child. The piece celebrates composer Robert Schumann's Bicentennial, featuring a discussion of Schumann's music and a performance of his "Carnaval." Audio from the interview and the performance can be found at NPR's website.

Joyce Yang Receives 2010 Avery Fisher Career Grant

2010-04-28T13:39:00.000-07:00

April 28: Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts announced pianists Joyce Yang, Kirill Gerstein, Yuja Wang, and David Aaron Carpenter (viola) as the four 2010 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipients.

More Info

Four Avery Fisher Career Grants Awarded for 2010

On April 28th at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts,

Nathan Leventhal, the Program's Chairman, Charles Avery Fisher and Nancy Fisher

announced four 2010 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipients:

David Aaron Carpenter, violist; Kirill Gerstein, pianist;

Yuja Wang, pianist; Joyce Yang, pianist

The Avery Fisher Artist Program, established by the late Avery Fisher as part of a major gift to Lincoln Center in 1974, serves as a monument to Mr. Fisher’s philanthropy and love of music, with the Career Grants in particular exemplifying his devotion to helping young artists. Since the first Career Grants were given in 1976, 118 have been awarded (including this year’s grants), and all recipients are currently working musicians. Identified early in their careers, among former Career Grant recipients are Carter Brey, James Ehnes, Leila Josefowicz, Jeffrey Kahane, and Edgar Meyer.

Festivities were held at Lincoln Center’s Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse for an invited audience. This year’s announcement, made by the Program’s Chairman Nathan Leventhal, along with Charles Avery Fisher and Nancy Fisher (children of the late Avery Fisher), and performances by three of the four recipients were taped for broadcast by Classical 105.9 WQXR ~ FM, with host Robert Sherman, to be aired on Wednesday, May 12th, from 9 - 10 pm. The fourth recipient, Kirill Gerstein, was unable to participate due to his performance schedule. The 2010 awards mark the 31st time WQXR has broadcast these festivities, having been a broadcast partner since the first Career Grants were awarded in 1976. This year, WNET SundayArts will also be featuring the 2010 recipients.

Under the banner of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the Avery Fisher Artist Program has launched a new website as of March 2009. Information about the Program (Avery Fisher Prize and Career Grants), is available online at www.averyfisherartistprogram.org. Links to today’s 2010 Career Grant performances, as well as select past recipients’ Career Grant ceremony performances, are also available on this website.

Avery Fisher Career Grants of the Avery Fisher Artist Program are designed to give professional assistance and recognition to talented instrumentalists as well as chamber ensembles who the Recommendation Board and Executive Committee of the Avery Fisher Artist Program believe to have great potential for major careers. The award stipend is $25,000. This amount is made available to each recipient, to be used for specific needs in furthering a career. Recognizing the need for video in a young career, the Avery Fisher Artist Program, with the aid of Live From Lincoln Center’s Executive Producer John Goberman, provides recipients with an unrestricted DVD of the day’s performance to aid them in publicizing their work.

Up to five Avery Fisher Career Grants may be given each year with recipients being U.S. citizens or permanent U.S. residents. Recipients are nominated by the Program's Recommendation Board, which comprises nationally known instrumentalists, conductors, composers, music educators, managers and presenters. Final selections are made by the Executive Committee, whose members are: Emanuel Ax, pianist; David Finckel and Wu Han, Artistic Directors, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center; Henry Fogel, Dean, Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University; Anthony Fogg, Artistic Administrator, Boston Symphony Orchestra; Pamela Frank, violinist; Ara Guzelimian, Provost and Dean, The Juilliard School; Nathan Leventhal, Chairman, Avery Fisher Artist Program; Reynold Levy, President, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts; Yo-Yo Ma, cellist; Zarin Mehta, President and Executive Director, New York Philharmonic; Jane S. Moss, Vice President, Programming, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts; and Joseph W. Polisi, President, The Juilliard School. Mrs. Avery Fisher, Charles Avery Fisher and Nancy Fisher are advisors to the Executive Committee. The Program periodically also awards the Avery Fisher Prize. The Avery Fisher Artist Program is grateful to Lincoln Center, Inc., and its president Reynold Levy for continued support.
M.L. FALCONE, Public Relations
155 West 68th Street, Ste. 1114
New York, NY 10023
TEL: (212) 580-4302
FAX: (212) 787-9638
E-Mail: MLFPR@mlfpr.com

Joyce Yang Plays L.A. with Busy Summer Ahead

2010-04-16T12:19:00.000-07:00

Pianist Joyce Yang made headlines in 2005 as the youngest silver medalist in the history of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. The 19-year-old also swept two additional awards, for best performance of a chamber work and best performance of a new work. Now 23, Yang says she's "having a ball" performing Beethoven, Bernstein, the big Romantics, and more as she "continues to dazzle audiences with her clarity and breadth of style" (Duluth News Tribune, 1/15/10).

Yang returns to the Los Angeles Philharmonic this week for Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 with conductor Edo de Waart. Her summer includes re-engagements at the Ravinia Festival with the Chicago Symphony (with James Conlon in Bernstein's Age of Anxiety) and Aspen Music Festival (Tchaikovsky with Leonard Slatkin and a recital evening), as well as her debut in July with the San Francisco Symphony under Alondra de la Parra playing "Rach Three".

"She's been a Performance Today favorite ever since her amazing interview and performance in our studios right after the 2005 Cliburn Competition," writes host Fred Child. "Joyce joined me in the studio again this past November and played highlights from Schumann's Carnaval. (And we have the Frederic Chopin Society performance of the same, complete.) Her performance was so strong, and her comments were so good, we plan to make that a centerpiece of our Schumann 200 coverage in June." Stay tuned!

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