DIANE YANG

Praised for her “lusty” sound by the Texas Classical Review, violinist Diane has performed recitals in concert halls around the world from the Kunming Conservatory of Music in China, Trinity Chapel in Cambridge, UK, to the Millenium Stage at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Recent performances include the North American premiere of Li Haitao’s Ballad for Violin and Piano, the New York City and DC premiere of Jie Yang’s violin and cello duo, Sonata: Two Mountain Tunes and a Wild Dance, and the “In Harmony” Tour with the Louisville Orchestra. A daughter of two musicians, Diane is energized by contemporary music and the boundaries that melodic tonalities can push. She has worked with composers such as Augusta Thomas Read, Lisa Heffter, Ahmed Alabaca, Daixuan Ai, Grace Ann Lee, Li-Hai Tao, and her father, Jie Yang. Inspired by her Chinese heritage and the patterns of migration, Diane works to unite and strengthen her communities through sharing music that speaks to cultural roots. This passion for community advocacy brought her to perform with the Crossing Borders String Quartet at the 2023 Arts Alliance Illinois Conference, and to program her grandfather’s music in her Civic Fellows Independent Project, partnering with Sistema Ravinia and We Each Belong to perform at multiple Chicago Public Schools. In 2020, Diane co-founded the Continuum Chamber Collective–an ever-changing ensemble organization born out of late night chamber reading sessions between friends. The Continuum quartet connected through the shared hunger to play underperformed music and has since served as the faculty string quartet in residency at the ArtsAhimsa Chamber Music Festival in Lenox, MA. The group has worked closely with Lisa Heffter and premiered her works Wildfires for violin and viola as well as her string quartet Carbon Fiber String Quartet. Recently, CCC completed its third annual east-coast tour, performing programs that comprised multiple American works to tell stories of homecoming. An avid chamber musician, Diane has performed with the Dover, Brodsky, and Argus String Quartets in addition to Steve Dann, Vera Beths, and the International Contemporary Ensemble. Currently, Diane is performing as an interim violinist with the Louisville Orchestra for the 2023-2024 season. As an orchestral player, Diane has performed under the baton of world-renowned conductors such as Ricardo Muti, Ken David-Masur, Hans Graf, Matthias Pintscher, Alan Pierson, Teddy Abrams, and Karina Canellakis. Diane has regularly played with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and appeared with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic, Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra, and New World Symphony. She has held fellowships at the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, National Repertory Orchestra, and Texas Music Festival Orchestra, among others. A firm believer in the healing powers of music, Diane has over a decade of experience teaching privately, starting from substituting for her mother’s violin studio in high school. During her master’s degree, Diane was the Graduate Teacher Assistant to Blair Milton’s studio, where she taught biweekly technique and repertoire lessons to the freshman class. Diane focuses on holistic pedagogy derived from tension free playing. A seasoned performer from an early age, Diane won her first concerto competition on piano at age 8 at the Mark C. Smith Concert Hall as a Huntsville Young Artist Winner. At age 12, she made her violin solo debut with the Chesapeake Youth Orchestra; when she was 16, she performed Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto in G Minor with the Columbia Orchestra as a Young Artist Concerto Competition Award Winner. Since then, Diane has won prizes at the Phi Mu Alpha Contemporary American Music and the Miami Music Festival Concerto Competitions, amongst many others. Important mentors include Blair Milton, Rebecca Henry, and Matt Albert. Diane holds a Master of Music degree from Northwestern University, where she was often concertmaster and soloed with the Baroque String Ensemble. Diane received her Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Michigan, where she was Assistant to the M-Prize Artistic Director, Dean’s Liaison, Vice President of Sigma Alpha Iota, Alpha, and graduated with university honors.