With over 30 years of pedagogical experience, Ms. Yan Yang founded the Yike Academy of Music in early 2021 together with her son, international concert pianist and Harvard graduate Tony Yike Yang, originally as an extension of her own private teaching studio in Toronto.
In 2018, Tony was appointed Youth Cultural Ambassador to the city of Guangzhou, and accepted a one-year position as an artistic tutor for Sun-Yat-Sen University. Two years later, Yang was also offered a three-year appointment as Music Consultant to the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. Upon accepting these roles, Tony has been passionately committed to advancing and encouraging classical music education for youth all across China and abroad, making an effort to connect with young musicians wherever he performs.
Tony also holds a deep interest in the social influence of music. One of his most recent projects includes collaboration with the Canadian non-profit foundation “Looking at the Stars” to bring live classical music to active inmates in prisons across Lithuania. In this coming season, Tony will be focused on engaging in community outreach programs in Kenya, as well as Southeast Asia.
Born in Chongqing and raised in Toronto, Tony is a recent graduate of Harvard University where he pursued a Bachelor of Arts in Economics. He was also the recipient of Harvard University’s Robert Levin Prize in Musical Performance during his graduating year.
Tony is currently an Artist-in-Residence at the Ingesund Piano Center in Sweden under the guidance of Prof. Julia Mustonen-Dahlkvist, and in the past, was a fellow at the Oberlin-Lake Como International Piano Academy. His present and past musical advisors have included renowned musical figures such as Gabriela Montero, Eliso Virsaladze, Stephen Hough, Martha Argerich, Dang Thai Son, Mari Kodama, and James Anagnoson.
