J. Earl Lee Piano Festival

• J. Earl Lee Piano Festival | Feb. 22-24 | Hamre Recital Hall, Fryxell Humanities Center, Augustana University

Join the Augustana School of Music as it celebrates the legacy of J. Earl Lee through the annual Lee Piano Festival featuring Grammy-nominated Joyce Yang.

Joyce Yang, of Seoul, South Korea, took her first piano lesson at the age of 4 and quickly won several national piano competitions in her native country. By age 10, she entered the School of Music at the Korea National University of Arts. In 1997, Yang moved to the U.S. to study at the pre-college division of the Juilliard School. During her first year at Juilliard, Yang won the pre-college division Concerto Competition. After winning the Philadelphia Orchestra’s Greenfield Student Competition, she performed with the Juilliard Pre-College Chamber Orchestra at just 12 years old. She graduated from Juilliard as the recipient of the school’s 2010 Arthur Rubinstein Prize, and in 2011, she won its 30th Annual William A. Petschek Piano Recital Award.

Yang first came to international attention in 2005 when she won the silver medal at the 12th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. The youngest contestant at 19 years old, she took home two additional awards. In 2006, Yang made her celebrated New York Philharmonic debut alongside Lorin Maazel at Avery Fisher Hall along with the orchestra’s tour of Asia — making subsequent appearances with the symphony orchestra.

In the last decade, Yang has blossomed into an “astonishing artist,” showcasing her colorful musical personality in solo recitals and collaborations with the world’s top orchestras and chamber musicians through more than 1,000 debuts and re-engagements.