Yang Yang Cai (1998) started playing the piano at the age of five with Noor Relijk. At the age of ten she became a student of the famous Dutch piano pedagogue Jan Wijn. Since 2015 she has been studying with him at the Conservatory of Amsterdam. Yang Yang has followed numerous masterclasses with, among others, Boris Berman, Matti Raekallio, Mikhail Voskresensky, Jacques Rouvier, Dominique Merlet, Igor Roma, Frederic Chiu, Klaus Hellwig and Arie Vardi.

In 2008 she won the first prize at the Steinway Piano Competition. As a result, as a nine-year-old she represented the Netherlands at the International Steinway Festival: she played in the famous Laeiszhalle in Hamburg and received great reviews from the local press. In 2012 she was also winner of the Steinway Piano Competition. In 2013, Yang Yang won the Junior Final of the international Young Pianist Foundation (YPF), playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto no. 14 with the Yehudi Menuhin School Orchestra. In 2017 she won the Classic Young Masters Award. On February 10, 2019, Yang Yang was awarded the first prize of the prestigious YPF Piano Competition – Grand Prix Youri Egorov. A tough competition culminating in her interpretation of Chopin’s second piano concerto, together with the symphony orchestra of the Conservatorium van Amsterdam conducted by Jean-Bernard Pommier.

Yang Yang has since played in all kinds of important Dutch concert halls, including the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, DeLaMar theater and Royal Theater Carré. In addition, she took part in The International Holland Music Sessions and Aspen Music Festival and School 2018 (USA). She is a regular guest at the Grachtenfestival Amsterdam, Festival Wonderfeel, Festival Young Talent Schiermonnikoog and the International Chamber Music Festival Schiermonnikoog. She has also performed several times in the TV programs DWDD and Podium Witteman.

Yang Yang does not only make music as a soloist, but also likes to play chamber music. Since 2017 she has formed the Amsterdam Piano Trio with violinist Shin Sihan and cellist Alexander Warenberg. In 2019 they performed in the Kleine Zaal of the Concertgebouw, among others, with work by Beethoven, Ravel and Shostakovich.

April 11, 2019