At
19 years of age, Joyce Yang won the silver medal at the Twelfth
Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in June 2005
as the competition's youngest entrant. At the competition,
she was also awarded Best Chamber Music Performance and Best
Performance of a New Work. Born in Seoul, Korea, Joyce received
her first piano lessons at age 4 from her aunt. She quickly
took to the instrument, which she received as a birthday
present, and within the next few years had won several national
piano competitions in Korea. By age 10 she had entered the
Korean National Conservatory and made a number of concerto
and recital appearances in Seoul and Taejon. Shortly thereafter,
Yang came to the United States and began studies with Yoheved
Kaplinsky at The Juilliard School.
In 1997, during her first year
at Juilliard, she won its Pre-College Division Concerto Competition,
resulting in a performance of the Haydn Concerto in D major
with the Juilliard Pre-College Chamber Orchestra. In April
1999 she was invited to perform at a benefit concert with
the Juilliard Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin. Subsequently,
as winner of another Pre-College Concerto Competition, she
performed Prokofiev Concerto No. 2 with the Juilliard Pre-College
Symphony. In 1998 Yang won the Philadelphia Orchestra's Albert
M. Greenfield Student Competition, playing the Saint-Saëns
Piano Concerto No. 2. Her victory led to an April 1999 performance
of the Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Philadelphia
Orchestra.
Yang has performed on the Rising
Stars Recital Series at both the Gilmore Festival and the
Ravinia Festival. She has appeared with the Baltimore Symphony,
the National Symphony Orchestra, The Houston Symphony, the
Duluth-Superior Symphony, the Knoxville, Decatur and Albany
symphonies, the Long Island Philharmonic and the Reno Philharmonic.
She has also given solo recitals in Greenwich, Connecticut,
and has performed chamber music and recitals at the Bridgehampton
and Aspen music festivals.
Joyce Yang currently attends
the College Division of The Juilliard School, where she received
Presidential Honors and a full scholarship.
