Piedmont Piano Company is pleased to present
Trip'n'n Winter
Tom Yang, baritone and Miles Graber, piano
Baritone Tom Yang will be singing Schubert's song cycle Winterreise accompanied by Miles Graber on the piano. This performance will incorporate some dance elements, and will be dedicated to his father, who passed away last October just two months shy of his 104th birthday.
FREE admission. Donations accepted, reservations recommended. Please call (510) 547-8188 or email music@piedmontpiano.com
Born in Okinawa, Tom Yang grew up in Stockton, California. His early dance training began towards the end of high school and continued for a term at UC Berkeley and then at Pacific Ballet in San Francisco and then onward to New York at the Harkness House for the Ballet Arts.
In Europe, he has danced with Tanz Forum, Rambert, Mantis, and Lurching Darts, and was the solo dancer in Peter Maxwell Davies’ “Vesalii Icones” with the Fires of London. He created the role of Caliban in Glen Tetley’s Tempest for Ballet Rambert.
As a multi-skilled performer, he has appeared in Pericles at the Royal National Theatre, David Henry Hwang’s The Dance and the Railroad for TAG Theatre Company, and the London West End production of Miss Saigon. He was the solo singer with From Here to Maturity Dance Company at the Purcell Room. For London’s City Opera he directed La Boheme and The Tales of Hoffmann. He created the role of the Emperor in Shaolin Wheel of Life the film and world tour. Another created danced role is the Dream Pinkerton in Anthony Minghella’s production of Madama Butterfly for English National Opera, The Metropolitan Opera, and the National Opera of Lithuania.
Tom was artistic director of Basic Space Dance Theatre of Edinburgh and since 2006 has been the resident choreographer of the Soundpainting Ensemble Amalgammes in Paris, France. ensemble-amalgammes.fr/choregraphe.php.
Tom is a martial artist and practices and teaches Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan.
As a baritone, Tom has studied classical singing with Sylvia Eaves, Mary Thomas, John Noble, Graeme Lauren, Norman Bailey and Thomas Hemsley, and special Lieder studies under the tutelage of Paul Hamburger.
Miles Graber who received his musical training at the Juilliard School, has developed a wide reputation as an accompanist and collaborative pianist for instrumentalists and singers. He has been associated with numerous solo artists, including Itzhak Perlman, Camilla Wicks, and Sarah Chang, as well as with such ensembles as the San Francisco Chamber Soloists, Midsummer Mozart, the Oakland-East Bay Symphony, the California Symphony, Oakland Lyric Opera, Berkeley Opera, Opera San Jose, and the San Francisco Camerata. Miles Graber has accompanied master classes by such artists as Midori, Joseph Silverstein, Nadia Salerno-Sonnenberg, Pamela Frank, and Alexander Barantchik. Mr. Graber is active as a teacher and chamber music coach and has served on the faculties of the Crowden School in Berkeley and the San Domenico Conservatory in San Anselmo. He is a staff accompanist and chamber music coach in the Preparatory Division of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.