JOYCE YANG SHINES IN SAN FRANCISCO PERFORMANCES DEBUT

November 13th, 2015
JOYCE YANG SHINES IN SAN FRANCISCO PERFORMANCES DEBUT

Joyce Yang made her debut in the prestigious San Francisco Performances series on November 10 with the Alexander String Quartet in a program of not one, but three major piano quintets. The Alexanders and Joyce have a much-praised recording of the Brahms and Schumann Piano Quintets, which they included on the program, but according to San Francisco Classical Voice, it was Schnittke’s Piano Quintet that stole the show. Critic Steven Winn praised Joyce’s “flair for blending decisiveness and delicacy at the keyboard. … And then, like some unforeseen deliverance, came the untroubled, open intervals of the passacaglia’s theme. Repeated over and over by the piano, in Yang’s wondrous expression, it seemed at once new and deeply familiar.”

San Francisco Examiner concurred: “One of the most impressive features of last night was the chemistry through which Yang became ‘one of the group.’ This was not just a matter of attentive listening and a keen command of the exchange of cues. It was the idea of a mix of diverse personalities that could still play as one.”