“...exceptionally fine for a pianist of any age...brilliantly executed, beautifully organised, breathless in its excitement and deeply affecting in its sentiments". — International Piano Magazine

We welcome the brilliant Yuanfan Yang for some seasonal keyboard extravagance! As well as a lauded pianist, Yuanfan is an acclaimed composer and astonishing improviser; this concert will feature orginal works by Yuanfan, and culminate in a truly festive fashion with improvisations on Christmas themes and styles chosen by the audience. If you're longing to hear Silent Night in the style of Prokofiev then don’t miss this concert!

Programme:

BACH-HESS: Cantata BWV 147: Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring

BACH-BUSONI – Chaconne

LISZT: Au lac de Wallen; Au bord d'une source

YUANFAN YANG: Waves

FAURE: Barcarolle no. 1 in A minor, Op. 26

CHOPIN: Barcarolle in F sharp, Op. 60

Interval

DEBUSSY: Images, Book 1

LISZT: Orage

Y. YANG: Improvisations based on Christmas themes and styles suggested by the audience

Born in Edinburgh, living in Leeds, and holding Chinese roots, Yuanfan Yang is fast establishing himself as one of the most interesting and distinctive musical voices of today, as a multi-faceted award-winning pianist, composer, and improviser. Yuanfan’s performances of Schumann and Liszt have been compared to the young Ashkenazy by International Piano Magazine, and his own compositions have been praised for their ‘soulful poignancy’ in The Observer.

Through his broad musical interests, Yuanfan performs a diverse range of repertoire, from Baroque to the contemporary, all reflected through his increasingly imaginative programming combinations that sometimes bind narrative/cultural/aesthetic themes. His wide musical palette is also reflected through his own original music, where alongside instrumental and vocal music (not limited to classical) he has composed four full-scale piano concertos, which have all been performed throughout China, France, Russia and the UK. His ‘Piano Concerto No. 3 in Five Movements’ won 1st Prize & Gold Medal in the composition category of the Rachmaninoff International Music Competition in 2022.

Yuanfan’s wide array of musical interest is also manifested through his signature improvisations, nowadays featured at many of his concerts mostly as encores, where audiences are invited to suggest any theme/tune (e.g. film music, tv themes, folk songs, pop music, opera and other classical themes) and a style (e.g., Beethoven, jazz, musical theatre, rock, waltz) and Yuanfan would create an original piece of music based on these suggestions on the spot.

Yuanfan has won numerous piano competitions, including 1st Prize and Audience Prize of the Casagrande International Piano Competition in Italy (September 2022), 2nd Prize in the Hong Kong International Piano Competition (October 2022), 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 (March 2023) and 1st Prize at the UK International Piano Open Competition (June 2023). In July 2023, he was one of the laureates of the Sydney International Piano Competition, becoming the first British pianist to do so in more than 40 years since 1981.

Yuanfan has performed extensively throughout Australia, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, and has performed concertos by Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Gershwin, Grieg, Mozart, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky with many leading orchestras including the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Romanian Radio National Symphony Orchestra, Wuhan Philharmonic Orchestra, Canton Symphony Orchestra in Cleveland, Minnesota Orchestra, and Manchester Camerata. The 2023 season sees Yuanfan make debuts Sydney Opera House, Brighton Festival, Beaminster Festival, St George’s Bristol, Inverness Piano Concerts, Milano Auditorium and several other concert halls.

A former first-class graduate of the Royal College of Music and the Royal Academy of Music in London, Yuanfan is now studying on the International Artist Diploma course at the Royal Northern College of Music. As a pianist, Yuanfan began learning at the age of six, and developed rapidly and enthusiastically during his youth; from Grade 8 Distinction just two years later at the age of 8, to his Diploma at the age of 10, to winning his first international competition at the age of 12 and becoming the Keyboard Winner and Grand Finalist of BBC Young Musician in 2012 at 15.

As a composer, his ‘Fantasy in G’ for piano was broadcast on BBC Two in 2007 and 2008, and his arrangement of ‘Scarborough Fair’ was shown on BBC Four in 2010. His piano composition ‘Waves’ won the Overall Award in the European Piano Teachers Association UK Composition Competition 2011, and was also one of the winners in the BBC Proms Young Composers Competition 2011. His ‘Haunted Bell’ won first prize in the Golden Key International Piano Composition Competition in 2012, and it was broadcast on BBC Four and BBC Radio Three. He was a finalist in the National Centre for Early Music Composers’ Award 2013, where his piece ‘Crushed Suites’ was premiered and recorded by the leading early music ensemble Florilegium. In 2016, his ‘Silhouettes’ for small ensemble and ‘axis’ for violin and piano were premiered in London, the latter of which was a prize-winner at the Royal Academy’s Alan Bush Composition Competition 2016. Yuanfan’s Piano Concerto No. 1 ‘The Wilderness’, scored for solo piano and full symphony orchestra and written at the age of seventeen, was premiered in Qianjiang, China and was subsequently performed in Manchester, London, Paris and Wuhan. In 2017 this concerto was chosen for substantial funding by the China National Arts Fund and subsequently funded eight public performances with the China National Orchestra of Theatre & Dance throughout several cities in China between 2017-2019. In September 2019, Yuanfan’s Piano Concerto No. 2 ‘The Peony Pavilion’ was premiered at the Greenwood Theatre in London with the Hornton Symphony Orchestra, with himself as the soloist.

Yuanfan’s debut album Watercolour featuring an eclectic range of solo piano music alongside three of his own compositions was released on Orchid Classics to critical acclaim, including 4* from International Piano Magazine.