Lan-In Winnie Yang, Music Director
Dr. Lan-In Winnie Yang, a native of Taiwan, has enjoyed success as a superb pianist and fine composer. She holds two Doctorate degrees: a D.M.A. in Piano with Award of Honor (Ackerman Excellence in Music) and a Ph.D in Composition from Stony Brook University, as well as two Master’s degrees from the Manhattan School of Music (Piano) and Stony Brook University (Composition), a Professional Studies Diploma in Piano Performance from the Manhattan School of Music, and a Bachelor’s degree in Piano and Composition from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Dr. Yang is the co-founder and the music director of MuseConnect. In January 2019, Yang released her new album Everlasting Charm with Rhymoi Music Co.
As a pianist, Dr. Yang won the 2008 Stony Brook Concerto Competition and performed Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No.2 with the Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra under conductor Jeffrey Milarsky. Yang is also active in solo recitals and chamber concerts. Her performance activities and compositions have taken her internationally throughout Asia, Europe, and the United States including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, Smithsonian Baird Auditorium and Church of the Epiphany in Washington D.C., Taiwan National Concert Hall in Taipei and Kaohsiung Music Hall, Dutch Royal Palace Het Loo, Japan TV Asahi Corp. Music Hall in Tokyo, etc. Yang was a two-time winner of the Taiwan National Composition Competition, Taiwan National Piano Competition, and the YAMAHA Asia-Pacific JOC and International JOC Composition Competition. Yang is also a member of the Renaissance Piano Duo.
As a composer, Dr. Yang’s compositions have been commissioned and premiered by orchestras, chamber ensembles, soloists, and foundations. Her recent works include “Piano Concerto”, commissioned by the Egret Cultural and Educational Foundation and premiered by the Taiwan National Symphony Orchestra under conductor Chien Wen-Pin in 2014; “Sonata for Violin and Piano”, written at the request of the 9-time Grammy Award winning Emerson String Quartet violinist Philip Setzer and the distinguished American pianist Gilbert Kalish - premiered in New York and Smithsonian, Washington D.C; “Piano Trio”, commissioned by the Taiwanese American Association of New York; “Transfiguration”, a violin concerto commissioned and premiered by the North/South Consonance Chamber Orchestra under conductor Max Lifchitz and Canadian violinist Claudia Schaer; “Voyage of Time” for Myanmar Flute, Cello, and Piano, commissioned for the 2017 Myanmar Music Festival; “Suite Astrologique for Piano”, presented in the DCINY Series by Tzuyi Chen in Carnegie Hall ; “Fantasy for Erhu and Strings”, written for Andy Lin and the Amphion String Quartet, and premiered by the New York Classical Players; “Dancing Dream” for erhu, viola, and piano, awarded the “Best Original Music Video Award” in the 2012 Mid-Atlantic Chinese Film Festival. Yang’s new collaboration with choreographer Ivy Chow and I.C. Movement “Alliance”, celebrates the fusion of modern music and dance.
Dr. Yang studied piano with Gilbert Kalish, Nina Svetlanova, and Alvin Chow, and composition with Perry Goldstein, Peter Winkler, Anna Rubin, and Richard Toensing.