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Yueran Yang Piano Irish Age: 25 Ludwig van Beethoven Frédéric Chopin Philip Martin |
Yueran Yang is a pianist from Co. Meath. She holds a first-class honours bachelor’s degree in classical music performance from TU Dublin Conservatoire, where she studied piano with Dr David Mooney and organ with Simon Harden. During her undergraduate studies, Yueran received the Anne Leahy Award for Excellence in Research for her dissertation.
Yueran is pursuing a master’s degree in piano performance at TU Dublin Conservatoire under the tutelage of Dr Mary Lennon. Her recent research has focused on the piano music of Clara Schumann, which she presented in a lecture-recital at the Conservatoire. Passionate about solo and chamber music performance, Yueran actively engages in various chamber music projects with fellow students. Yueran has participated in masterclasses with renowned artists such as Finghin Collins, Barry Douglas, Sergei Edelmann, Sofya Gulyak, and John O’Conor. She has given numerous performances, including at the John Field Room in the National Concert Hall as part of the 2022 Master Course Series, in the TU Dublin Conservatoire Lunchtime Recital Series in 2023 and 2024, and a lunchtime recital at the Boyle Arts Festival in July 2024. She also actively competes, having received a commendation in the Mabel Swainson Cup at Feis Ceoil in 2024. |
| Programme Notes
Piano Sonata No. 13 in E-flat Major, Op. 27 No. 1 Composed between 1800 and 1801, this sonata is subtitled ‘Sonata quasi una fantasia’. It has four movements arranged in a slow-fast-slow-fast order to be played attacca, creating a continuous musical narrative. The opening Andante–Allegro–Andante contrasts reflective with energetic themes. The lively Allegro molto e vivace that follows is full of rhythmic vitality. With its introspective character, the third movement, Adagio con espressione, leads into the spirited final movement, Allegro vivace. Ballade No. 2 in F Major, Op. 38 Chopin composed this Ballade between 1836 and 1839, published it in 1840, and dedicated it to Robert Schumann. This piece alternates between sections of lyrical and folk-like characters in F major with dramatic and stormy outbursts in A minor. Throughout the piece, Chopin alternates between different tonalities to create a complex emotional pallet. In the final bars, the lyrical theme returns, not in the original key, but takes on the tonality of the earlier dramatic outbursts in A minor. The Rainbow Comes and Goes Commissioned by the 1988 GPA Dublin International Piano Competition, this four-movement suite draws its title from William Wordsworth’s poem, Ode: Intimations of Immortality. Martin writes: ‘It was dedicated to my twin children who were… at the time, still “trailing clouds of glory”’. The first two movements each portray a child, who then comes together in a ‘play’ in the third movement, leading to the brilliant finale. |
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