About the Artist

Joyce Yang first came to international attention in 2005 when she won the silver medal atthe 12th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. The youngest contestant at 19
years old, she took home two additional awards: Best Performance of Chamber Music
(with the Takàcs Quartet), and Best Performance of a New Work.  In 2010 she received
the Avery Fisher Career Grant and earned her first Grammy nomination for her recordingof Franck, Kurtág, Previn & Schumann with violinist Augustin Hadelich.
Notable orchestral engagements have included the New York Philharmonic, The
Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, and the Chicago,
Houston, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and Sydney symphony orchestras, working with
conductors including Edo de Waart, Lorin Maazel, Peter Oundjian, David Robertson,
Leonard Slatkin, and Bramwell Tovey. She has appeared in recital at Lincoln Center,
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Kennedy Center, Chicago’s Symphony Hall, and
Zurich’s Tonhalle. 

An avid chamber musician, Yang has fostered an enduring partnership with the
Alexander String Quartet. Jerry Dubins of Fanfare Magazine wrote that their 2018
recording of Mozart’s Piano Quartets contained renditions that were “by far . . . the most
amazing performances of Mozart’s two piano quartets that have ever graced these ears.” In 2018/2019, Yang focused on introducing classical music to new audiences. As Guest Artistic Director for the Laguna Beach Music Festival in California, she curated
concerts that explore the “art-inspires-art” concept – highlighting the relationship
between music and dance while simultaneously curating outreach activities to young
students.  Yang continued her unique collaboration with the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet with
performances of Half/Cut/Split – a “witty, brilliant exploration of Robert Schumann’s
Carnaval” (The Santa Fe New Mexican). 

Born in 1986 in Seoul, South Korea, Yang received her first piano lesson from her
aunt at the age of four. In 1997, Yang moved to the United States to begin studies at the
pre-college division of the Juilliard School. She graduated from Juilliard with special
honor as the recipient of the school’s 2010 Arthur Rubinstein Prize, and in 2011 she
won its 30th Annual William A. Petschek Piano Recital Award.