JANUARY 17 & 18, 2026
Joyce Yang

“Her attention to detail and clarity is as impressive as her agility, balance and velocity.” - The Washington Post

We are excited to bring back one of our most loved and honored soloists, the Grammy-nominated pianist Joyce Yang, in a program balancing the masterful First Concerto of Beethoven with two orchestral visions of the story of Romeo and Juliet. Brilliant masterworks of Strauss, Prokofiev and Diamond complete this compelling program.

SATURDAY / JANUARY 17, 2026 - 7:30pm - Heritage Theatre, Campbell

SUNDAY / JANUARY 18, 2026 - 2:30pm - San Mateo Performing Arts Center

Pre-Concert Talk 45 mins prior to each concert (Sat at 6:45pm / Sun at 1:45pm)

These concerts are sponsored by Pamela Ferris & a Friend of PSO

  • David Diamond, Music for Romeo and Juliet (excerpts)
    Overture
    Death of Romeo and Juliet‍
    / Samantha Burgess conducting
    Ludwig van Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 1
    Sergei Prokofiev, Romeo and Juliet (excerpts)
    ‍ ‍Montagues and Capulets
    Minuet
    Romeo and Juliet
    Death of Tybalt
    Romeo at Juliet's Grave
    Richard Strauss, Macbeth

  • Blessed with “poetic and sensitive pianism” (Washington Post) and a “wondrous sense of color” (San Francisco Classical Voice), Grammy-nominated pianist Joyce Yang captivates audiences with her virtuosity, lyricism, and interpretive sensitivity. 

    She first came to international attention in 2005 when she won the silver medal at the 12th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. The youngest contestant at 19 years old, she took home two additional awards: Best Performance of Chamber Music (with the Takàcs Quartet), and Best Performance of a New Work. In 2006 Yang made her celebrated New York Philharmonic debut alongside Lorin Maazel at Avery Fisher Hall along with the orchestra’s tour of Asia, making a triumphant return to her hometown of Seoul, South Korea. Yang’s subsequent appearances with the New York Philharmonic have included opening night of the 2008 Leonard Bernstein Festival – an appearance made at the request of Maazel in his final season as music director. The New York Times pronounced her performance in Bernstein’s TheAge of Anxiety a “knockout.” READ MORE

  • Mitchell Sardou Klein, music director & conductor