On Sunday, November 12, Yang Yang Cai performs in the YPF Young Virtuosi series. At 3 p.m., she will take her seat behind Youri Egorov’s grand piano in De Duif and play the program below. The Young Virtuosi series is organized by YPF to offer young talented pianists a stage, a chance to develop further and gain experience.
Program to follow. Ticket sales open.
Yang Yang Cai (born 1998) is one of the greatest piano talents of her generation, praised for her refined, aesthetic performance and technical mastery. She began taking piano lessons from Noor Relijk at the age of five. When she was ten years old, she was accepted into the class of distinguished piano educator Jan Wijn, with whom she studied for over a decade. In May 2019, she received her Bachelor’s degree from the Conservatory of Amsterdam with outstanding reviews. From October 2020, she studies at the famed Imola Piano Academy with Enrico Pace. Yang Yang has been studying with Frank van der Laar at the Conservatory of Amsterdam since September 2022.
Yang Yang has taken numerous master classes with Boris Berman, Matti Raekallio, Mikhail Voskresensky, Jacques Rouvier, Dominique Merlet, Igor Roma, Frederic Chiu, Klaus Hellwig, Arie Vardi and Maria João Pires, among others.
In 2008, she won first prize at the Steinway Piano Competition. From there, as a nine-year-old, she was allowed to represent the Netherlands at the International Steinway Festival. She played in the famous Laeiszhalle in Hamburg and received rave reviews from the local press. In 2012, she again won the Steinway Piano Competition. In 2013, Yang Yang won the first prize in the Junior Final of the international Young Pianist Foundation (YPF) Competition, where she performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 14 with the Yehudi Menuhin School Orchestra. In 2017, she earned the Classic Young Masters Award. On Feb. 10, 2019, Yang Yang was named the grand winner of the prestigious Grand Prix Youri Egorov in the international YPF Piano Competition; a tough competition culminating in her performance of Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto with the symphony orchestra of the Conservatorium van Amsterdam conducted by Jean-Bernard Pommier.
Yang Yang has since played in several important concert halls including the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, the DeLaMar theater and Royal Theater Carré. She also participated in The International Holland Music Sessions and Aspen Music Festival and School 2018 (USA), among others. She attended master classes in Germany, Austria and the United Kingdom, among others. She is a frequent guest at the Grachtenfestival Amsterdam, Festival Wonderfeel, Festival Jong Talent Schiermonnikoog and the International Chamber Music Festival Schiermonnikoog. She has also performed several times on the TV programs DWDD and Podium Witteman. With violinist Shin Sihan and cellist Alexander Warenberg, Yang Yang has formed the successful Amsterdam Piano Trio since 2017. In 2019, they performed at the Concertgebouw’s Kleine Zaal, among other venues, with works by Beethoven, Ravel and Shostakovich.
In 2021 the YPF launched the Young Virtuosi series for YPF laureates and top young pianists, the ‘Young Virtuosi’, in which they are given the promised opportunity through concerts and master classes to further develop their craftsmanship and bring out the best in themselves. A great success. Click here for the recordings of 2021, 2022 and 2023.
The concerts will take place in De Duif at Prinsengracht 756 in Amsterdam. During the six concerts, YPF laureates and top young pianists will play on the grand piano of legendary pianist Youri Egorov, who died in Amsterdam at the age of 33
Young Virtuosi Series 2023 concerts
* April 2 > Alexandra Kaptein * May 7 > Florian Verweij * June 4 > Juan Pedro García Oliva * September 10 > Alexander Jansen * October 8 > Nikola Meeuwsen * November 12 > Yang Yang Cai
Master classes will also be organized again in 2023. These special ‘classes’ will take place in ‘MuziekHaven’ in Zaandam. Programming and further information will follow shortly.