Harpa Concert: Yang, Park, & Grimsdottir

A wild journey and exploration of humanity and nature through the piano...

Iceland Piano Festival presents: Andrew J. Yang (USA/Iceland), Myung Hwang Park (France/South Korea), and Nína Margrét Grímsdóttir (Iceland) on November 24, 20:00, at Harpa, Kaldalón.

[English below]

Píanóhátíð Íslands kynnir þessa tónleika sem forleik tónleikaraðar sem muna eiga sér stað sumarið 2023. Þar koma fram tónlistarmenn víða að úr heiminum til Íslands og spila á tónleikum allt í kringum landið. Í lok tónleikaraðarinnar verður Píanóhátíð Vestfjarða haldin í annað skiptið (Sú fyrsta var haldin í ágúst 2022) með tónleikum sem munu eiga sér stað í hinum fallega norðvestur hluta landsins.

Andrew J. Yang er Bandarískur píanóleikari sem fæddist árið 1992 og hefur komið fram í Evrópu, Norður Ameríku og Asíu. Talin af The San Francisco Examiner vera undrabarn, eða orðrétt: a prodigy, [running] the emotional gamut from brooding introspection to manic exuberance. Yang hefur komið víða fram, s.s. Auditorium Marcel Landowski (Paris), Musiikkitalo (Helsinki), Jewish Cultural Center (Krakow), Mozarthaus (Vín), Hoheikan (Sapporo), Carnegie Hall (New York City), og tónleikasölum í Llanes og Ribadesella (Spánn). Yang fékk fyrstu verðlaun á þrítugustu International FLAME Piano Competition í París (2019). Hann hefur einnig hlotið verðlaun frá Piano Award International Competition í Þýskalandi, og Metropolitan International Piano Competition í New York. Árið 2018 hlaut Yang heiðursverðlaunin Hvítu rósina fyrir tónlist frá forseta Finnlands, Sauli Niinistö. Yang útskrifaðist með B.A. í hagfræði og B.M. í píanóleik frá Northwestern University árið 2015. Við útskrift með M.M. í píanóleik frá Mannes School of Music í New York árið 2017 hlaut hann Steinway & Sons verðlaunin, sem veitt eru framúrskarandi útskriftarnema. Yang stundar þessa dagana doktorsnám í píanóleik við USC Thornton School of Music (Los Angeles) á fullum skólastyrk. Árið 2020 flutti Yang til Patreksfjarðar á Vestfjörðum, þar kennir hann á píanó, fiðlu og tónfræði í Tónlistarskóla Vesturbyggðar. Í ágúst 2022 stofnaði Yang Píanóhátið Vestfjarða sem haldið var upp á þann sama mánuð, ásamt því stofnaði hann Píanóhátíð Íslands sem mun koma fram sumarið 2023.

Nína Margrét Grímsdóttir er í fremstu röð klassískra píanóleikara landsins. Hún lauk einleikaraprófi frá Tónlistarskólanum í Reykjavík, LGSM prófi frá Guildhall School af Music and Drama, meistaraprófi frá City University í London, Professional Studies Diploma frá Mannes College of Music í New York og doktorsprófi í píanóleik frá City University of New York. Hún hefur komið fram á Íslandi, Evrópu, Bandaríkjunum, Kanada, Japan og Kína sem einleikari með hljómsveitum og í kammertónlist. Hún hefur hljóðritað fimm geisladiska fyrir Naxos, BIS, Acte Préalable og Skref sem allir hafa hlotið frábæra dóma í Gramophne Awards Issue, BBC Music Magazine, Glasgow Herald, Crescendo-Magazine, Xi´an Evening News og High Fidelity.

Myung Hwang er fæddur í S. – Kóreu árið 1987 og ákvað 16 ára gamall að helga líf sitt tónlistinni. Hann lauk mastersgráðu í tónsmíðafræðum og kvikmyndatónlist frá Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique í París og hlaut námsstyrk frá The Tarazzi Roundation og Leg Jabés Foundation. Jafnframt stundaði hann píanónám við Haute Ecole de Music í Genf þar sem hann lauk mastersgráðu í píanóleik og voru kennarar hans og leiðbeinendur m.a. Thierry Escaich, Yves Henry, Dominique Weber, Bruno Coulais og Marie-Jeanne Serero. Sem tónskáld hefur hann komið víða við, samið verk til lifandi flutnings og tónlist fyrir teiknimyndir og stuttmyndir sem sýndar hafa verið á kvikmyndahátíðum og söfnum , m.a. Jeu de Paume í Paris. Nokkur verka hans voru flutt á kynningu í dómkirkjunni í Orleans, Abbaye de Notre-dame des anges í Frakklandi. Park hefur verið tónskáld og flytjandi eigin verka á ýmsum kvikmyndahátíðum og kvikmyndatónleikum, m.a. á Mon premier hátíðinni í Paris, Music & Cinéma í Aubagne og Marseille. Hann var tónskáld og píanóleikari á fyrstu alþjóðlegu píanóhátíðinni á Vestfjörðum nú í sumar 2022 þar sem verk hans “Tales under the Snow” (2022) var frumflutt af Andrew J. Yang og var flutningurinn kynntur á Rás 1. Nú í september lék Park einnig á Busan Maru alþjóðlegu tónlistarhátíðinni í S.- Kóreu.

-------

Iceland Piano Festival presents this concert as a prelude to the festival which will take place Summer 2023, which will bring world-class pianists to concert halls across Iceland. The grand finale of the festival is the already-established Westfjords Piano Festival (the first edition which took place August 2022), with multiple concerts taking place in the beautiful Northwest region of the country. This concert highlights three pianists: Andrew J. Yang (U.S.A./Iceland), Myung Hwang Park (France/South Korea), and Nína Margrét Grímsdóttir (Iceland).

American pianist, Andrew J. Yang, deemed a “prodigy, [running] the emotional gamut from brooding introspection to manic exuberance” (San Francisco Examiner), has an active international performance career across the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia. Since 2020, Yang has been living in Patreksfjörður, a small town in the Westfjords region of Iceland. He is the founder and artistic director of the Westfjords Piano Festival and Iceland Piano Festival. Yang has won numerous prizes from international piano competitions, most recently the top prize at the 30th International FLAME Piano Competition in Paris, France, and at the 5th Metropolitan International Piano Competition in New York City. In 2018, he received the “White Rose” Medal of Honor for musical excellence from President of Finland, Sauli Niinistö. Recent performances include engagements at the Mozarthaus (Vienna), Murphy Recital Hall (Los Angeles), Hoheikan (Japan), and most of the major New York venues including Victor Borge Hall, Carnegie Hall, Museum of Modern Art, and Steinway Hall. Born and raised in California, Yang received both a B.A. in Economics and B.M. in Piano Performance from Northwestern University, and a M.M. in Piano Performance from Mannes School of Music. A former competitive athlete, Yang pursued an amateur boxing career, training out of John's Boxing Gym in the Bronx, NY, under the tutelage of "Shabazz" Lorenzo Sidberry, coach of multiple IBF world champions.

Myung Hwang Park, born in 1987 in South Korea, made a commitment to music studies at the age of 16. He received a master’s degree in Composition Theory and Film Scoring at Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, while being laureate of scholarships from the Tarazzi Foundation and Leg Jabès Foundation. He also studied piano at Haute Ecole de Music de Genève, where he received a master’s degree in piano performance. His teachers and mentors include Thierry Escaich, Yves Henry, Dominique Weber, Bruno Coulais, Marie-Jeanne Serero. In addition to works for the concert stage, Park composes for short animations and films, several which have been selected by numerous festivals and exposed in museums (such as at the Jeu de Paume in Paris). His compositions were also featured in media facade projections on Grand Cathédrale of Orléans, Abbaye de Notre-dame des anges. He was a composer and musician on numerous cine-concerts in film festivals (Mon premier festival at Paris, Music & Cinéma at Aubagne and Marseille) and cine concerts. In August 2022, Park was composer-in-residence and guest pianist at the International Westfjords Piano Festival in Iceland, where his piano composition “Tales Under the Snow” (2022) was premiered on the national radio RUV Rás 1. In September 2022, he performed a recital for the Busan Maru International Music Festival.

Pianist Nina Margrét Grímsdóttir is one of Iceland’s most established classical performers and recording artist. She has performed in Europe, USA, Canada, Japan, and China, including concertos with the Royal Chamber Orchestra in Tokyo, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Reykjavík Chamber Orchestra, Iceland Amateur Symphony Orchestra, and the Reykjavik Wind Quintet. She has recorded five CDs for Naxos, BIS, Acte Préalable and Skref. Her CDs and concerts have received excellent reviews in Gramophone Awards Issue, BBC Music Magazine, Glasgow Herald, Crescendo-Magazine, Xi’an Evening News and High Fidelity. She holds a D.M.A. performance degree from the City University of New York.