Yang wins Juilliard’s William Petschek award

Pianist Joyce Yang has won Julliard’s 30th annual William Petschek Piano Recital award.

The Juilliard School in New York said on its website that Yang would be presented with the award in her Alice Tully Hall debut in New York on May 5.

Yang came to international attention as silver medalist at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2005. She was the youngest contestant at age 19.

Last year, she was honored with the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant.

The 24-year-old pianist has performed on multiple occasions with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Houston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and BBC Philharmonic among others.

She was born in Seoul and moved to the United States in 1997 at age 11 to study in Juilliard’s Pre-College Division with Yoheved Kaplinsky, who is currently artistic director of the division. In May 2010, she received her bachelor of music degree from Juilliard’s College Division and graduated with special honors as the recipient of the Arthur Rubinstein Prize.

The William Petschek Piano Recital award was established 30 years ago, through the William Petschek Charitable Trust, to assist the careers of young pianists. Previous winners included Frederic Chiu, Jeremy Denk, Jon Kimura Parker and Orion Weiss.

(swchun@heraldcorp.com)