Grammy-nominated pianist Joyce Yang performs with Elgin Symphony Orchestra Nov. 9-10
As part of its 75th season celebration, Grammy-nominated pianist Joyce Yang will be joining the award-winning Elgin Symphony Orchestra on Nov. 9-10 in a program featuring Grieg’s Piano Concerto, Dvořák’s Symphony No. 7, and Coleridge-Taylor’s Overture to “The Song of Hiawatha.”
The concerts will be at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the Hemmens Cultural Center auditorium, 45 Symphony Way in downtown Elgin. A pre-concert chat by ESO Music Director Chad Goodman will take place one-hour prior to each concert.
The Washington Post has said Yang is blessed with “poetic and sensitive pianism,” and the San Francisco Classical Voice says she has a “wonderous sense of color.”
She 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: Best Performance of Chamber Music (with the Takàcs Quartet), and Best Performance of a New Work.
She received the 2010 Avery Fisher Career Grant and earned her first Grammy nomination in the Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance category for her recording of “Franck, Kurtág, Previn & Schumann” with violinist Augustin Hadelich.
As her career has flourished, Yang has showcased 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.
Tickets start at $20. Student tickets are $10. The ESO offers free youth tickets for children, age 17 and under with a paid adult ticket. Call the ESO box office at (847) 888-4000 for more information about this program.
To purchase tickets online, or for more information visit ElginSymphony.org.
About the Elgin Symphony Orchestra
The Elgin Symphony Orchestra, one of the preeminent regional orchestras in the United States, is celebrating its 75th anniversary season in 2024-25.
The Elgin Symphony Orchestra is led by Chad Goodman, who was named the ESO’s Music Director — the fifth in the Orchestra’s history — in May 2023.
Since its founding in 1950, the organization has developed a reputation for artistic excellence, and innovative programming as demonstrated through its long history of highlighting the works of world-renowned conductors, composers, and musicians, and of promoting the advancement of women in the arts.
The ESO became a professional ensemble in 1985 in good part due to the leadership of the late Margaret Hillis, who served as the ESO’s music director from 1971 to 1985. Hillis was one of the first females to break through the male-dominated world of conducting and is credited with being the impetus behind the creation of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra Association, the formation of the ESO’s volunteer core — the Elgin Symphony League, and the start of the ESO’s commitment to music education and enrichment for youth.
Today, the ESO continues to draw its creativity and artistry from the Elgin area and gives back to the community through its Adopt-a-School program that provides supplemental music education and in-school performances to local schools; Musicians Care program that brings live music performances to local hospitals, hospices, and retirement homes; informational Listener’s Club events and other free programs at public libraries; In Harmony Program in places of worship; Ainsworth Concerts for Youth; free tickets for youth under 18; open rehearsals; and free community concerts throughout the region.
The Illinois Council of Orchestras has named the ESO Orchestra of the Year four times (1988, 1999, 2005 and 2016).
The ESO is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. To learn more or to support the ESO, visit www.elginsymphony.org.