ABOUT
Hailed by CBC Music as one of Canada’s finest young musicians, pianist Tony Yike Yang first rose to international acclaim at the age of 16 after becoming the youngest-ever laureate in the history of the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, winning the 5th prize in 2015. Additionally, Yang has also won prizes at the Van Cliburn, Gina Bachauer, Hilton Head, Cooper, and the Bosendorfer & Yamaha USASU International Piano Competitions.
As a soloist, Tony has performed internationally in venues such as the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, Carnegie Hall in New York, the National Philharmonic in Warsaw, Seoul Arts Center, the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Osaka Symphony Hall, Koerner Hall in Toronto, Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, Severance Hall in Cleveland, Esplanade Singapore, Teatro Municipal in São Paulo, Stadtcasino Basel, Milan Conservatory, Aula Simfonia Jakarta, and the Millennium Amphitheatre in Dubai.
Concerto highlights include appearances with the Cleveland Orchestra, Warsaw Philharmonic, Orchestre Métropolitain, Fort Worth Symphony, Basel Proms Orchestra, Ontario Philharmonic, Jakarta Sinfonietta, Toronto Sinfonietta, Edmonton Symphony, Changsha Symphony, Chongqing Symphony, Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Nova Scotia, and the Hohhot Philharmonic.
Tony is also passionate about the role of music in the greater community. Among his most devoted projects include a comprehensive collaboration with Looking at the Stars, a charity that brings classical music to prisons and correctional facilities across Canada, Lithuania, and the United States. Tony also works closely with Chamber Music Kenya as an ambassador of piano performance and education to eastern Africa, as well as the Guangdong Disabled Persons’ Federation to bring live music to visually-impaired youth in the Guangdong province. Since 2018, Tony has been appointed a Youth Cultural Ambassador for the City of Guangzhou.
Tony has also performed for dozens of royalty, dignitaries, and ambassadors such as HRH Camilla, the Queen Consort of the United Kingdom, HRH Queen Mathilde of Belgium, former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, former Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Sabah, and Polish President Andrzej Duda, among others.
Born in Chongqing and raised in Toronto, Tony is a recent graduate of Harvard University where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Economics. He is Artist-in-Residence at the Ingesund Piano Center in Sweden and at the Chinese University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen, and in the past, was a fellow at the Oberlin-Lake Como International Piano Academy. Currently pursuing his Master of Music at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover under Prof. Arie Vardi, Tony is a recent recipient of the Harvard University Robert Levin Prize in Musical Performance, and is named as “One To Watch” by Scala Radio UK.
