Yuanfan Yang, who performs our annual Patrons' Concert, is an exciting young concert pianist and composer who has been hailed as a prodigy. He is currently forging an international career on both fronts after winning numerous prizes from an early age. Unusually, he is also an accomplished improviser and will include this element at the end of this recital.
Born in Edinburgh, Yuanfan began learning the piano at the age of six and passed Grade 8 with distinction at eight. He was Keyboard Category Winner and a Grand Finalist in the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition 2012 aged 15.
Since then Yuanfan has won many awards and performed in numerous venues both here and abroad. Over the past year, he has won 1st Prize and the Audience Prize at the Casagrande International Piano Competition in Italy, 2nd Prize in the Hong Kong International Piano Competition, where he made his concerto debut with Marin Alsop, and 2nd Prize plus Special Prizes for Best Classical Sonata, Best Romantic Work and Best Work by Chopin in the First Ljubljana Festival International Piano Competition in Slovenia.
Yuanfan has also won awards for his compositions from a young age. Most recently, his Piano Concerto No 3 in Five Movements and solo piano piece "Petite Partita" won 1st Prize and Gold Medal at the Rachmaninoff International Music Competition – Composition Category. His award-winning composition "Waves" forms part of tonight's recital. YuanFan will end his recital with improvisations on themes and styles suggested by the audience.
This concert is sponsored by the Tillett Trust as part of its Debut programme, which aims to help young musicians of outstanding talent, and also supported by our Patrons.