Photo: Dimitri Mais
Amy Yang, piano
Praised by the Washington Post as a “jaw-dropping pianist who steals the show…with effortless finesse,” pianist Amy Yang joined forces with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra under Osmo Vänskä playing Schumann’s Piano Concerto at Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center in 2023. Additionally, she gave the world premiere of Richard Danielpour’s “Four Portraits” for solo piano at the Curtis Institute of Music, where she is a faculty member and the Associate Dean of Piano Studies and Artistic Initiatives.
Her commitment to artistry and leadership is expressed on and off stage, as she appears as soloist, chamber musician, and pedagogue passionate about empowering young artists who will uphold our art form. She has appeared as a soloist with the Houston Symphony, and presented recitals for Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Texas Music Festival, Kosciuszko Foundation and Coastal Concerts. She has premiered and recorded music by Caroline Shaw, Avner Dorman, Michael Hersch, Ezra Laderman, and commissioned works from Alistair Coleman, Edward Babcock, and Hua Yang. Among the countless joyful moments of sharing the stage are treasured recitals with Roberto Díaz, Yefim Bronfman, Miriam Fried, Richard Goode, Ani and Ida Kavafian, Bomsori Kim, Patricia Kopatchinskaya, Tessa Lark, Anne-Marie McDermott, Tito Muñoz, Paul Neubauer, Tara Helen O’Conor, David Shifrin, Joseph Silverstein, Arnold Steinhardt, Philippe Tondre, Michael Tree, Peter Wiley, Danbi Um; the St. Paul and Mahler chamber orchestras; Third Coast Percussion; A Far Cry; and the Dover, Jasper, and Aizuri string quartets.
She has performed in venues such as Wigmore Hall and Carnegie Recital Hall; at the Marlboro, Ravinia, Aldeburgh, Bravo! Vail, Chelsea, Olympic, and Ojai music festivals; Verbier Academy; Cal Performances; Caramoor; IMS Prussia Cove; Music from Angel Fire; and Chamber Music Northwest, among others. An episode on her by Emmy® Award-winning producer Jim Cotter’s Articulate show aired on PBS in 2021.
Ms. Yang is an alumna of the Curtis Institute of Music, the Juilliard School, and the Yale School of Music, where she received the Parisot Award for Outstanding Pianist and the Alumni Association Prize. Her past teachers include Li Qing, Timothy Hester, Claude Frank, Robert McDonald, and Peter Frankl. Ardent to champion young voices on this pedagogical legacy, her own students have soloed with the Philadelphia Orchestra and entered Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Bard Conservatory, Vanderbilt University Blair School of Music, Eastman School of Music, Peabody Institute, and Indiana University. She has given masterclasses at UCLA, Mannes College of Music, University of Oklahoma, The Suzuki School, and for New York Youth Symphony. She won the 2018 Musical Fund Society prize and the Kosciuszko National Chopin Piano Competition.
When not serving the various keyboards related to her roles, her intentionally incognito presence may be revealed by a quivering Micron pen as she sketches from the back of concert halls. The work of a lifetime is where she hopes to question, explore, and linger every day.
(498 words. 3.VIII.2023. Please destroy previously dated material.)