About
For upcoming and past performances of Yuanfan's music, please visit the Concerts page.
Yuanfan Yang is an award-winning composer of a very broad range of styles, including concert music, film music, folk music, vocal and choral music, pop music, musical theatre, game soundtracks as well as an accomplished improviser, arranger and orchestrator.
His ‘Fantasy in G’ for piano was broadcast on BBC Two in 2007 and 2008, and his arrangement of ‘Scarborough Fair’ was shown on BBC Four in 2010. His piano composition ‘Waves’ won the Overall Award in the European Piano Teachers Association UK Composition Competition 2011. This piece also won Highly-Commended in the BBC Proms Young Composers Competition 2011. His ‘Haunted Bell’ won first prize in the Junior Group of the Golden Key International Piano Composition Competition in 2012, and it was broadcast on BBC Four and BBC Radio Three. He was a finalist in the National Centre for Early Music Composers’ Award 2013, where his piece ‘Crushed Suites’ was premiered and recorded by the leading early music ensemble Florilegium. In 2016, his ‘Silhouettes’ for small ensemble and ‘axis’ for violin and piano were premiered in London, the latter of which was a prize-winner at the Royal Academy’s Alan Bush Composition Competition 2016. In September 2014, Yuanfan’s new Piano Concerto – ‘The Wilderness’, scored for solo piano and full symphony orchestra, was premiered in Qianjiang, China; the concerto was performed again at Wuhan University as part of his China tour in November 2014, and it had its UK premiere with the Chetham’s Symphony Orchestra in June 2015, its London premiere in August 2016 at London University, and its French premiere in November 2016 – all the performances were enthusiastically received with critical acclaim from the press and audience.
Partial List of Works (click below to navigate)
CHAMBER/ENSEMBLE
(3+ Performers)
Quirk – 7'
for string quartet (2017)
Silhouettes – 10' (CLICK HERE to listen)
for violin, viola, clarinet in B flat, accordion (2016)
Scottish REELism – 5'
for flute, trombone, tuba, piano. Adaptable for other ensembles (2015)
Crushed Suites – 5'
for flute (or Baroque flute), violin, cello (or piccolo cello),
harpsichord (or piano) (2013)
The Legend of Nuwa – 6'
for flute doubling piccolo, oboe, horn in F, oboe, two percussionists
(suspended cymbal, five gongs of ascending pitch, tam-tam, whip,
bass drum), cimbalom (or dulcimer), piano, harp, two violins, viola,
cello, double bass (2012)
May Day – 4'
for flute doubling piccolo, clarinet in B flat doubling bass clarinet in b flat,
one percussionist (snare drum, temple blocks, triangle, suspended cymbal),
harp, violin, viola, cello (2011-2012)
Moderato in A minor – 4'
for string quartet (2011)
SOLO/DUO
Duo Sonata de Charme - 16'
i. Allegro giocoso
ii. Valse de salon - Andante grazioso
iii. Finale - Vivace alla danza
for violin & cello (2022-2023)
Chorale: In Memoriam - 1.5'
for solo piano (2018)
...unfolding - 6'
for solo guitar (2018)
Ancient Sculptures - 7.5'
for solo piano (2017)
Spring Blossoms on a Moonlit River （春江花月夜） – 11'
a recomposition of the traditional Chinese piece of the same name,
for two pianos (2017)
Three Academy Pastiches – 8'
i. Schumann Klavierstucke (for piano)
ii. Baching Mad Sarabande (for harpsichord or piano)
iii. Schubert Lied: The Full Moon Shines on Mountaintops (for solo voice and piano)
(2016)
...sparks – 1'
for flute and cello (2015)
Ode to the Atlantic – 5'
for solo piano (2015)
Prayers of the North – 8'
for solo piano (2014)
Sonata Classica No. 2 in G – 6'
for solo piano (2014)
axis – c.6' (CLICK HERE to listen)
for violin and piano (2014)
Sonata Classica No. 1 in C – 5'
for solo piano (2013)
Three Aquarelles – 15'
i. Waves (CLICK HERE to listen)
ii. The Sun Sinks Beyond the Mountain Ridge (CLICK HERE to listen)
iii. The Haunted Bell (CLICK HERE to listen)
for solo piano (2011-2013)
Scarborough Fair (arr. Y. Yang) – 3'
for solo piano (2010)
A Chinese Celebration– 3'
for solo piano (2009)
An Encore Waltz – 3'
for solo piano (2009)
Fantasy in G– 5'
for solo piano (2006)
ORCHESTRAL
Piano Concerto No. 4 'Ode to Jing River – 23'
i. The Lamentation
ii. The Upsurge
iii. The Glamour
iv. The Splendour
for piano solo and orchestra (2022-2024)
First three movements premiered at St John's Smith Square, London in October 2022 with the Berlin Metropolitan Orchestra conducted by George Hlawiczka, with Yuanfan as the soloist. Revised version with added 4th movement will be premiered in May 2024 with the Opera North Orchestra in Wakefield
Piano Concerto No. 3 – 26'
i. Very slowly and ghostly
ii. Presto sinistro
iii. Flowing and rhapsodic
iv. MOTO PERPETUO - Vivace ritmico
v. FINALE - Andante maestoso, quasi chorale
for piano solo and orchestra (2021)
1st Prize Winner of the Rachmaninoff International Music Competition 2022
- Composition Category
CLICK HERE for complete performance and view programme note
CLICK HERE for 1st, 4th and 5th movements from Moscow Conservatory
Piano Concerto No. 2 'The Peony Pavilion' – 23'
i. The Spring Garden
ii. Lament of Self-Pity
iii. Love Dreams
for piano solo and orchestra (2019)
CLICK HERE to watch a performance of this work and view programme note
George Gershwin - Prelude No. 1 in B flat (orch. Y. Yang)– 2'
for large orchestra (2017)
Once Upon a Dance... – 8'
for large orchestra (2016)
Piano Concerto No. 1 'The Wilderness' – 29'
i. Vengeful Return
ii. Rekindled Love Flame
iii. Revenge & Escape
for piano solo and orchestra (2014)
CLICK HERE to watch a performance of this work and view programme note
Debussy - Canope (from Preludes, Book 2) (orch. Y. Yang) – 3'
for orchestra (2011)
Piano Concerto in E flat minor – 12'
for piano solo and orchestra (2010)
VOCAL/CHORAL
The Splendour of You – 4'
a pop song (2020)
co-written with Irene Serra
The Shadow – 4'
for soprano solo, flute, clarinet in B flat, violin, cello, piano (2015)
set to the poem by Elizabeth Foster
It Came Upon the Midnight Clear – 3'
a Christmas carol for SATB chorus (2014)
The Silence's Tears – 6'
for mezzo-soprano solo, piccolo, flute, oboe, clarinet in B flat, bassoon,
horn in F, trombone, vibraphone, two harps, two violins, viola, cello,
double bass (2013)
Joy to the World – 3'
a Christmas carol for SATB chorus + piano (2011)
FILM/TV
Au Revoir Jerome!– 7'
orchestral film score (2023)
Scored for the eponymous animated short film, directed by Chloé Farr, Gabrielle Selnet and Adam Sillard. Composed as an entry for the 11th International Film Music Competition in Zurich