BIO

AMY YANG

 

A “jaw-dropping pianist who steals the show…with effortless finesse” (Washington Post), Amy Yang balances an active career as soloist, chamber musician and pedagogue. In 2020, she shared the stage with Anne-Marie McDermott, Yefim Bronfman, Paul Neubauer, and the Dover Quartet in a myriad of performances at Bravo! Vail. Additionally, she gave her solo debut as well as joined forces with the Jasper String Quartet in piano quintets by Tania Léon and Joan Tower for Philadelphia Chamber Music Society’s 35th season. She was also featured in a full episode with Emmy® Award-winning producer Jim Cotter of Articulate, aired on PBS in 2021. 2021 also brought about appearances with violinist Tessa Lark at Wigmore Hall, Gardner Museum, Cal Performances, Rockport Music Festival, and International Violin Competition of Indianapolis Series. Her upcoming appearances will be at Hawaii Concert Society, Chameleon Arts Ensemble of Boston, The Seattle Series, Music at Pine Street, Coastal Concerts (DE), with violist Roberto Díaz and oboist Philippe Tondre for Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and playing with violinists Danbi Um and Paul Huang at Santa Fe Music Festival, Cleveland Chamber Music Society, and Chamber Music San Francisco. 

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At the Curtis Institute of Music, she is the Associate Dean of Piano Studies and Artistic Initiatives. She will make her debut playing Schumann’s Piano Concerto with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra under Osmo Vänskä at Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center in April, 2023.

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Collaborating with leading musicians, Ms. Yang toured with Patricia Kopatchinskaya, Tito Muñoz and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and premiered music by Michael Hersch at Cal Performances, Ojai Music Festival and Aldeburgh Festival. Additional collaborations include performances with Richard Goode, Anne-Marie McDermott, Ida and Ani Kavafian, Miriam Fried, Bomsori Kim, Roberto Díaz, Kim Kashkashian, Tessa Lark, Paul Neubauer, Tara Helen O’Conor, Joseph Silverstein, members of Guarneri String Quartet, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Dover Quartet, Aizuri String Quartet, Jasper String Quartet and A Far Cry. In addition to working with Dame Mitsuko Uchida at Marlboro School of Music, she was chosen to participate in her Carnegie Hall Workshop on Mozart’s Piano Concerti.

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She has soloed with Houston Symphony, Tuscaloosa Symphony, Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, Mansfield Symphony and Orquesta Juvenil Universitaria Eduardo Mata at UNAM.

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Ms. Yang has premiered music by Caroline Shaw, Avner Dorman, Michael Hersch, Ezra Laderman, Paul Wianko and Hua Yang. Festival appearances include Marlboro Music Festival, Ravinia Festival, Prussia Cove, Verbier Academy, Bravo! Vail, Chamber Music Northwest, Chelsea Music Festival, Caramoor, Olympic Music Festival, Music from Angel Fire, Twickenham Fest, Saltbay Chamberfest, among others.

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An active recording artist, her discography includes her solo album “Resonance” (MSR Classics), a world premiere recording of piano music by Ezra Laderman (Albany Records), albums with violinists Itamar Zorman (BIS Records), Tessa Lark (First Hand Records), Danbi Um, Carol Jantsch, and José Franch-Ballester (iTinerant Records). 

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At Curtis Institute of Music, she previously held the roles of program director and piano faculty of Curtis Summerfest’s Young Artist Summer Program for nine summers. She also teaches at the University of Pennsylvania. She has given masterclasses at UCLA, Mannes College of Music, University of Oklahoma, for New York Youth Symphony, and her 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 and Indiana University. 

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Winner of the 2018 Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia prize and the Kosciuszko National Chopin Piano Competition, she is an alumna of Curtis Institute of Music, Juilliard School and Yale School of Music, where she received the Parisot Award for Outstanding Pianist and the Alumni Association Prize. 

Aiming to lead a life rich in learning, she would love to spend more time studying painting, neuroscience, and gardening. 

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BIO

TED BABCOCK

 

Composer of the Polyphonic Field for piano and electronics

 

Ted Babcock is a Philadelphia based composer and percussionist. As a composer, his works ride the boundaries between conceptual electronics, percussive counterpoint, and an instinctual lyricism. The 2021/2022 season includes the premiere of his first solo album Trilogies for solo percussionist and electronics, which was praised by I Care if You Listen as “…worthy of redefining the repertoire on the vibraphone.”Other premieres include new works for pianist Amy Yang and the Viano String Quartet. Past commissions include works for the arx percussion duo, Fringe Arts Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Wind Symphony, and percussionist/ videographer Evan Chapman and flutist Antonina Styczen. 

 

As a percussionist, he has performed with Grammy award winning contemporary music groups such as the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, The Crossing choir, and eighth blackbird. His playing has been featured in the New York Times, NPR and Rolling Stone Magazine.

 

A committed educator, he spent three seasons as a teaching artist for Play On, Philly!, an after school music program offering orchestral training to underserved youth in the Philadelphia area free of charge. He received degrees in composition, percussion, and community artistry from Boston Conservatory at Berklee and the Curtis Institute of Music.