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CLARA

Yang

PIANIST

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“A first-rate pianist who isn't afraid of challenges.” 

Fanfare

NEWS

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ABOUT

Praised by critics for her sensitivity, intelligence, and excitement in her playing, Chinese-American pianist Clara Yang has performed in notable venues such as Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Forbidden City Concert Hall (Beijing), Auditorio Nacional de Música (Madrid), the Seymour Centre (Sydney), Kodak Hall at the Eastman Theater (Rochester), the Sunset Center (Carmel), and on major series such as Carolina Performing Arts, Dame Myra Hess series in the Chicago Cultural Center, and many others. She is currently Associate Professor of Piano and Head of Piano Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill. Equally at home with the traditional repertoire and new music, she has designed innovative, interdisciplinary and cross-genre projects, collaborating with celebrated artists such as pianist Aaron Diehl, new media artist Xuan, rock guitarist Yvette Young, and hip hop artist Suzi Analogue.

As a concerto soloist, she has collaborated with renowned conductors such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Long Yu, Carl St. Clair, Josep Caballe Domenech, Grant Llewellyn, Tonu Kalam, Laura Jackson, Jeff Tyzik, and George Jackson. She has soloed with the European Union Youth Orchestra, the Sichuan Symphony Orchestra, Banda Sinfonica Municipal de Madrid, the Eastman Philharmonia, the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, the North Carolina Symphony, among others. In addition, she also frequently collaborates with living composers: She performed Glass etudes alongside Philip Glass, and she performed the world premiere of renowned composer Chen Yi’s piano concerto with the top orchestra in China, the China Philharmonic Orchestra (中国爱乐), in the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing. Yang served on the artistic panel for New Music USA.

 

Her solo album Folding Time (Albany Records) won a Global Music Awards Gold Medal, and it was selected as one of the Best of 2016 by American Record Guide. Her album Mother Tales (Navona Records) with violinist Sunmi Chang and Grieg and Prokofiev (Albany) with cellist Helen Xiao-Dan Zheng Altenbach have received great reviews from the String Magazine, Pizzicato, and Fanfare. In addition, she has been interviewed by many distinguished publications in China. Her performances were broadcast on major radio stations in the US and abroad. She studied with Nelita True at the Eastman School of Music (DMA), Claude Frank at the Yale School of Music (MM, Artist Diploma), and John Perry at USC Thornton School of Music (BM). Her principal teachers in her pre-college years include Hans Boepple, Guangren Zhou (周广仁),  and Huili Li.

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ALBUMS

Non-Commerical and Live Recordings

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PHOTOS

VIDEO

Concert Videos
Rachmaninoff Rhapsody (excerpts) Clara Yang piano, Tonu Kalam conductor, UNC Symphony

Rachmaninoff Rhapsody (excerpts) Clara Yang piano, Tonu Kalam conductor, UNC Symphony

04:19
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Mozart K. 503 excerpts, Clara Yang, piano, George Jackson, conductor, Winston Salem Symphony

Mozart K. 503 excerpts, Clara Yang, piano, George Jackson, conductor, Winston Salem Symphony

05:51
Play Video
Shostakovich Concerto No. 2 (excerpt) Clara Yang piano, Tonu Kalam conductor, UNC Symphony

Shostakovich Concerto No. 2 (excerpt) Clara Yang piano, Tonu Kalam conductor, UNC Symphony

04:09