Joyce Yang

Pianist Joyce Yang has captivated audiences with her virtuosity, lyricism, and interpretive sensitivity. She came to international attention in 2005 as the silver medalist and youngest contestant in the 12th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Her New York Philharmonic debut came in 2006, with subsequent appearances including a triumphant return to her hometown of Seoul, South Korea, and the 2008 Leonard Bernstein Festival at the request of Music Director Lorin Maazel.

Her colorful musical personality can be seen in more than 1,000 solo recitals and collaborations with chamber musicians and orchestras, including the Takács Quartet, members of the Emerson String Quartet, Alexander String Quartet, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, and BBC Philharmonic and a five-year concerto cycle with the Milwaukee Symphony. Mrs. Yang has appeared in solo recital at Zurich’s Tonhalle, on an extensive Australian tour presented by Musica Viva, and in solo recitals and piano concertos throughout North America. In 2018-19, a reunion with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra followed a successful 2017 collaboration.

Her wide-ranging discography includes the world premiere of Michael Torke’s Piano Concerto, created expressly for Mrs. Yang and commissioned by the Albany Symphony, and her first Grammy nomination for her recording with violinist Augustin Hadelich.

Mrs. Yang has become a staple performing on the summer festival circuit. And as the Guest Artistic Director for the Laguna Beach Music Festival, she has curated concerts that highlight the relationship between music and dance while simultaneously curating outreach activities to young students. Mrs. Yang has continued her unique collaboration with the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet with Half/Cut/Split, illuminating the ingenuity of Robert Schumann’s musical language.

Mrs. Yang received her first piano lesson from her aunt at age 4. By the age of 10, she won several national piano competitions and entered the School of Music at the Korea National University of Arts. In 1997, Yang began studies at the pre-college division of the Juilliard School with Yoheved Kaplinsky. After winning competitions and performing with the Juilliard Pre-College Chamber Orchestra and Philadelphia Orchestra, she graduated from Juilliard as the recipient of the 2010 Arthur Rubinstein Prize.

She is a Steinway artist.