Joy Yang ___ 杨洋
​
is
​
a dynamic
​pianist
and
​thereminist
​
​anchored in classical music,
​now
​focusing on
​jazz,
free improvisation,
and
​interdisciplinary ​
​performance.
​
​She is a performer-composer and educator.

PIANO

THEREMIN

I am

South African, Chinese and Australian. I was born in Johannesburg to Chinese parents. I started playing the piano when I was four years old, before moving to Sydney, Australia at the age of seven. I am a native bilingual speaker in English and Mandarin, and fluent in Wenzhounese. I moved to the  USA in 2018 to pursue my graduate studies. I completed my DMA in Jazz Performance (cognate in Piano Performance and Literature) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in May, 2023. 

I lead my own jazz trio, and I collaborate with visual artists, video projection mappers, sound designers, dancers, choreographers, scientists and poets. I also improvise telematically with the international Ethernet Orchestra and Female Laptop Orchestra. My first CD release was with Kuroshio in 2020, under Asian Improv Records.
A third culture kid existing in  liminal spaces, I continually broaden my musical voice and have released and performed in various styles as a pianist, thereminist, singer, rapper, song-writer and/or producer.

​These include: Briar Schlenker Trio (Free Improv/Noise), Valkyrie Trio (Women in Jazz), Almost A (Jazz/Gypsy/New music), UIUC Hip-Hop Collective (Hip-Hop), Boxout (Pop), Lifetime Member (EDM), Media Light Array (Grimecore/Noise), JA$$ (EDM Improv), Avant-Gardians (Free Jazz) and ViolaMPFREE (Interdisciplinary Improv).

​Dr. Yang’s performance-composition commissions and conference presentations include: February Dance 2022, Joy of Regathering 2022 and January Dance 2023 at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts (Illinois), Sound Kitchen 2022 (Calgary), 4S Society of Social Studies of Science 2021 (Toronto), Dance for World Community 2021 (Boston), Art-Science Festival 2021 (Illinois) and Immersion Festival 2019 (Illinois). Yang has a Masters in Piano Performance and Literature (UIUC), and was awarded the University of Illinois Fellowship (2022) and the Fellow of Trinity College London Diploma (Piano Recital, 2017).

 Picture


Some of her interdisciplinary collaborators include professors: Jason Finkelman, Amy Hassinger, Cynthia Oliver, Jennifer Monson, Laura Chiaramonte, David Rosenboom, Roger Mills, Nela Brown, Cara Stacey, Armand Beaudoin, Jr., Dorothy Martirano, Steve Taylor, Smitha Vishveshwara, Rebecca Nettl-Fiol, Latrelle Bright and more. The Interdisciples led by Yang also includes: Jake Metz, Jonah Weisskopf and Matt Harsh. Yang’s Jazz trio features Mitch Maftean and Ori Sergel.
​
Joy is a U of I Piano Instructor for the Piano Lab Program, and also a Musician in Dance (on the Dance Fellowship). She has worked as the Music Admissions Graduate Assistant for the past 2 years. Joy writes the social media strategy and leads the U of I School of Music's social media teams, and serves as editor-in-chief of the Illini Stories Blog (including building and designing the website). Joy is passionate about community building, and is the president of the Music Graduate Student Organization (MuGS).

Joy seeks to inspire global community through full expression of the evolving self in sound and interdisciplinary performance.
Education
BMus/BEd (Distinction), University of New South Wales; MM, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Fellow of Trinity College London; DMA, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

For the full bio and list of projects and collaborators, please click:
​ 
Bio
Resume and CV
​Artist Statement

Extra Materials:
​Teaching Philosophy
​EPK

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