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Blessed with “poetic and sensitive pianism” (Washington Post) and a “wondrous sense of color” (San Francisco Classical Voice), pianist Joyce Yang is acclaimed for captivating audiences with her virtuosity, lyricism and interpretive sensitivity.
Yang will perform with the Hawai’i Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Joel Rezven, on Friday in the Maui Arts & Cultural Center’s Castle Theater.
Born in Seoul, Korea, and admitted to the prestigious Juilliard School at age 11, she first came to international attention in 2005 when she won the silver medal at the 12th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. She was the youngest contestant at 19 years old. Yang told Colorado Public Radio that before he passed away Van Cliburn told her, “You have to deliver the gift, because you have it. It’s that profound love you have, that obsession you have over the music, and it’s a lot more powerful than you think it is.”
Since her debut, Yang has blossomed into an “astonishing artist,” praised Switzerland’s Neue Zurcher Zeitung. She has performed as soloist with many celebrated orchestras including the New York Philharmonic; the Chicago Symphony; the Los Angeles Philharmonic; and the San Francisco, Sydney and Toronto symphony orchestras. In recital, Yang has taken the stage at New York’s Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and Zurich’s Tonhalle.
Reviewing a concert with the New York Philharmonic, The New York Times raved: “The standout was Joyce Yang, who gave a knockout performance of the alternately poetic, fiery and occasionally jazz-tinged piano line.”
In 2011, she released her debut CD, “Collage,” which mixed familiar and less-known 20th-century works, from Domenico Scarlatti and Claude Debussy to contemporary composer Lowell Liebermann. It was hailed by American Record Guide as “an outstanding first recording.”
“Putting works together this way is one of my long-term goals in recital planning,” she told Vancouver Classical Music. “When I see a new score, I find it virtually impossible to memorize it with just the notes in black and white. Visualizing color gives me an additional way of ordering everything and getting musical flow and phrasing right; any score becomes sort of a multi-dimensional painting. If you can visualize any work that way, why not apply the same thinking to combinations of seemingly unrelated works.”
Her 2014 release, “Wild Dreams,” ranged from Schumann’s “Fantasiestucke” to Rachmaninov’s passionate Second Piano Sonata. Describing the album, she reported, “Each piece on ‘Wild Dreams’ defies gravity, and the sense of time and space is redefined in the spontaneity of performance. I imagined the swirling subconscious at work in the minds of these composers, prodding wild new realities and vocabularies as they created these particular pieces in their waking dreams.”
Upcoming, she will release a new piano concerto by American composer Michael Torke. Three Manhattan Bridges for Piano and Orchestra was commissioned by the Albany Symphony and written expressly for Yang as a soloist.
Yang’s “Gardens of Spain” program with the Hawaii symphony features Manuel de Falla’s “Nights in the Gardens of Spain,” Strauss’s dazzling, “Don Juan,” selections from Bizet’s “Carmen” and Ginestera’s “Danzas Argentinas.”
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Carlos Santana sold out another brilliant show at the MACC’s A&B Amphitheater on Saturday. Fronting a phenomenal 10-piece band, including his mighty drummer wife, Cindy Blackman Santana, and superb new vocalist Ray Greene (from Tower of Power), the masterful Latin rock guitar legend electrified his audience on all levels – physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.
Encapsulating 45-plus years of music history, the Santana band blazed through classic essentials like “Black Magic Woman,” “Jingo,” and “Oye Como Va,” and more recent hits like “Maria Maria” and “Smooth,” repeatedly drawing audience members to their feet. Staying current, the set list also included “Saideira” from “Corazon” and the rousing “Freedom in Your Mind” from the upcoming “Santana IV.”
Uplifting the crowd with both passionate music and words, he referenced Maui as his home, saying, “It’s delicious,” and evoked the spirits of four great artists, inviting us to embrace “Bob Marley’s ‘One Love,’ John Lennon’s ‘Imagine,’ Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’ and Brother Iz’s ‘Over the Rainbow, Wonderful World.'” A funky finale of Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground” brought it all to a magnificent close.
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Mulligans On the Blue in Wailea will present a Reggae in the Valley Pre-Concert on Saturday featuring New Zealand’s Sammy J, California-based singer Tenelle, Gomega and T-Flats & The Hi-Lytes.
Born in Australia and making a home in New Zealand, Sammy J first made waves in Hawaii in 2013 with his hit collaboration “Give Me All” with FIJI. Releasing his self-titled debut EP, “Prelude,” the same year, the first single, “No Sleep,” topped New Zealand’s iTunes Reggae chart.
“I had a great love for jazz, reggae and all the Motown greats,” the Maori singer of Tainui, Ngati Maniapoto and Ngati Raukawa descent has reported. “My sound is an infusion of all these genres.”
His songs that have been hits on island radio stations include “Hey,” “Leaving Me,” “Give it All” and “Waiting.” He just released a new single, “Say That You Love Me.”
* The show runs from 5 to 10 p.m. Saturday at Mulligans On the Blue in Wailea. Tickets are $25 and $35 and are available at Mulligans. For more information, call 874-1131.
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Chicago-based husband-and-wife team violinist Minghuan Xu and pianist Winston Choi, who perform as Duo Diorama, return to Maui for a free concert at the Makawao Union Church on Saturday.
They will perform Elliott Carter’s “Duo,” Stuart Folse’s “Perperikon,” Robert Lombardo’s “Variations on Joy and Laughter,” Claude Debussy’s “Sonata,” and Vivian Fine’s “Portal.”
“We are thrilled to present this remarkable duo for the third time on Maui, with special underwriting from E&FA board member Paul McMahon,” says Ebb & Flow Arts Director Robert Pollock, who is presenting the concert. “Their past two concerts were standing-room only. Our Maui audience loves them.”
Versatile musicians, these two renowned soloists are known for performing an eclectic mix of musical styles, ranging from the great standard works to the avant-garde. They have performed extensively throughout North America, South America and Europe. Their recent South American tour included performances at the Festival Musica Nova in Brazil and Festival Encuentros.
Duo Diorama’s name derives from 19th-century Paris, where the diorama was a popular theater entertainment that prefigured cinema. Tales of mythic events were painted on linen and brought to life using dramatic effects of lighting (executed using sunlight redirected by a series of mirrors) so that scenes would appear to come alive. With this concept in mind, according to their website, Xu and Choi seek to bring sheets of music notation to life using similar sonic manipulations of color, feeling and movement, thus transporting their listeners to realms of musical drama, profound emotions and inspiring aesthetic ideas.
“These young players exhibit formidable virtuosity,” praised an Arts Fuse review. “They are especially committed to playing contemporary music, some of which they have commissioned themselves.”
While on Maui, Duo Diorama will also record music for E&FA’s third CD on its Maui Institute for Modern Music label, due for release later this year.
* Duo Diorama will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Makawao Union Church. A pre-concert discussion will be held at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free.