Biography
Clara Yang, a pianist of Chinese American background, has earned recognition both for concerto appearances and for her solo recitals. As an educator she directs keyboard studies at the University of North Carolina and appears frequently as a guest lecturer.
She first noticed her perfect pitch near the age of four and began lessons in Beijing with Guangren Zhou and Huili Li. At thirteen she relocated with her mother to California and continued her training under Hans Boepple. After secondary school she worked with John Perry at the University of Southern California, then studied with Claude Frank at the Yale School of Music and with Nelita True at the Eastman School of Music, where she received her DMA in piano performance.
Yang’s first recording, the 2014 album Grieg & Prokofiev made with cellist Xiao-Dan Zheng, also brought her notice in Globe magazine. The following year Lee Weisert wrote Érard for her; the piece was included on his Wild Arc album, and she simultaneously issued her own recording Folding Time. Shortly afterward Chen Yi finished the piano concerto Four Spirits, which Yang premiered in China and the United States in 2016. She appeared at the Glass 80 festival in 2017 and continued presenting recitals and master classes throughout the United States until the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in 2019. Her University of North Carolina duties remained uninterrupted, and in 2023 she collaborated with violinist Sunmi Chang on the Navona release Mother Tales.
She first noticed her perfect pitch near the age of four and began lessons in Beijing with Guangren Zhou and Huili Li. At thirteen she relocated with her mother to California and continued her training under Hans Boepple. After secondary school she worked with John Perry at the University of Southern California, then studied with Claude Frank at the Yale School of Music and with Nelita True at the Eastman School of Music, where she received her DMA in piano performance.
Yang’s first recording, the 2014 album Grieg & Prokofiev made with cellist Xiao-Dan Zheng, also brought her notice in Globe magazine. The following year Lee Weisert wrote Érard for her; the piece was included on his Wild Arc album, and she simultaneously issued her own recording Folding Time. Shortly afterward Chen Yi finished the piano concerto Four Spirits, which Yang premiered in China and the United States in 2016. She appeared at the Glass 80 festival in 2017 and continued presenting recitals and master classes throughout the United States until the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in 2019. Her University of North Carolina duties remained uninterrupted, and in 2023 she collaborated with violinist Sunmi Chang on the Navona release Mother Tales.
Albums
Singles
