Young-Ah Tak

"A thrilling blend of fury and finesse" raves the San Antonio Express-News, describing Ms. Young-Ah Tak's pianism. Since making her New York debut at the Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall with the Juilliard Symphony, Ms. Tak has performed as a recitalist, a soloist, and a chamber musician in the United States, Canada, Austria, Germany, Italy, Korea and Japan. Her performances have been broadcast on WQXR in New York, KPAC in Texas, WCLV in Cleveland and KBS in Korea.

Ms. Tak is the Silver Medal winner at the San Antonio International Piano Competition, where she also received 'Best Performance of a Classical Work' award. She is also the winner of the International Corpus Christi Young Artists' Competition, and top prize winner in numerous other competitions including the Valsesia-Musica International Piano Competition in Italy, the Missouri Southern International Piano Competition, the Hilton Head International Piano Competition, the Ettlingen International Piano Competition in Germany, the Stravinsky International Awards, and the Heida Hermanns International Piano Competition.

Ms. Tak's orchestral appearances include: the Filharmonia Pomorska (Poland), the Greater Lansing Symphony Orchestra, the Oltenia Philharmonic Orchestra (Romania), the NEC Philharmonia, the Korean Symphony Orchestra, the Ulsan Philharmonic and the Busan Philharmonic Orchestra in her native Korea. She performs regularly at Alice Tully Hall, The Kennedy Center, the Steans Institute at Ravinia Festival and Jordan Hall in Boston, and has also appeared at the Music@Menlo festival, Wharton Center in Michigan, Aspen Music Festival, the Banff Centre for the Arts, Kneisel Hall in Maine, Tongyeong International Music Festival in Korea, St. Paul Chapel at Columbia University and at Sequenza 21 concert series in New York. An active chamber musician, Ms. Tak has received New England Conservatory’s Honors Ensemble Awards and has recently collaborated with Ma’a lot Quintet from Germany.

Ms. Tak received her Bachelor of Music degree from The Juilliard School and her Master's degree with high distinction from the New England Conservatory. She also earned her Graduate Diploma from the New England Conservatory with Russell Sherman and Wha Kyung Byun as a Presidential Scholar. Ms. Tak's previous teachers include Martin Canin and Yong Hi Moon. She has performed in master classes given by Fou Ts'ong, Hans Leygraf, John Perry, Maria Curcio and Marc Durand among others. Ms. Tak is currently pursuing her Doctorate of Musical Arts at the Peabody Conservatory as a student of Leon Fleisher.

The debut recording of Judith Zaimont's 'Wizards (2003)' by Ms. Tak was released from Albany Records in November 2005. Her future engagements include the recital tour in Korea and solo recitals in Chicago, Baltimore and New York.

www.youngahtak.com