David Yang
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- David Yang
- Available Teaching Artists
David Yang
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David is a current Indpendence Foundation Fellow in the Arts.
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Violist, narrator, composer and co-director of Auricolae, David Yang has collaborated with members of the Audubon, Borromeo, Brentano, Lark, Muir and Tokyo String Quartets, amongst others. He is Music Director of the Newburyport Chamber Music Festival near Boston, MA, with a successful career that has led him all over North America and Europe. He also is Director of Chamber Music at the University of Pennsylvania and the string quartet coach at Swarthmore College, in addition to being a member of the Italian-based string trio "Ensemble Epomeo." He recently has performed concertos for viola and orchestra in Canada and England.
David is a staunch advocate of new music and has commissioned dozens of works. He was born and raised in New York City and now lives in South Philly with his two daughters, Eliana and Alessandra. When not practicing viola and hanging out with his children, he enjoys following professional cycling and cooking or eating anything with lots of garlic in it. David's father was born in China in Xuzhou (near Shanghai) and came to America as a refugee before World War II. His mother comes from a Jewish family in Brooklyn that came over from Poland, Russia and Romania at the turn of the 20th Century. In addition to his music, his various pursuits have led him over the years to acquire a Master's Degree in architecture and work as a bicycle messenger in Manhattan, a fossil hunter in the Utah desert, a bartender and a carpenter, though not all at the same time!
In 2008/09, David was awarded an Independence Foundation Fellowship in the Arts to study his craft with Master Storyteller Charlotte Blake Alston. This extremely competitive fellowship is given to only a handful of sculptors, choreographers, playwrights, actors, dancers and musicians out of several hundred each year, and is an opportunity for exceptional artists to take a key step forward in their professional development.
David joined Musicopia’s Roster of Teaching Artists in 2003. Together with cellist Thomas Kraines, David co-directs Musicopia’s story-telling and composition ensemble, Auricolae, which has performed and commissioned many new works over the past several years. Auricolae presents Musicopia’s Fairy Tales, Folklore and Fables assembly and residency. David also conducts advanced chamber music coaching sessions for high school students.