Biography

A Boston-based Taiwanese cellist, Yi-I Stephanie Yang has demonstrated her artistic talent through great sensitivity in her cello playing.
Stephanie has performed actively with a wide range of artists such as members of the Juilliard String Quartet, Borromeo String Quartet, Jaime Laredo, Hugh Wolff, and Jonathan Biss. She has recently made her debut with the Baden-Baden Philharmonie in 2024 with Schumann Cello Concerto, under the baton of maestro Heiko Mathias Förster in Germany. She has performed in the First Monday Concert Series directed by Laurence Lesser in 2024, performed with A Far Cry chamber orchestra in 2023 as a guest artist competition winner, and has performed in Carnegie Hall as a member of the New York String Orchestra Seminar in 2022. She received the grand prize in the Hsinchu City Cello Competition, as well as the Taiwan National Chamber Music competition, and was also selected as the most outstanding cellist by the Taipei Symphony Orchestra in 2018.

As a chamber musician, Stephanie is currently the cellist of Trio Sponte, which recently won the Grand Prize in the Senior Division of the 2024 Coltman Chamber Music Competition, along with 1st Prize in the Strings/Piano Category. Trio Sponte was selected for the New England Conservatory’s prestigious Honors Ensemble program for the 2023-24 school year; the award comes with a stipend, a full recital in New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall, and various community engagements such as performing at the Rockport Shalinliu Performance Center and various retirement homes in Massachusetts. In 2024 she was one of the three NEC students to be selected for the Borromeo String Quartet’s yearly Guest Artist Award to perform Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence in Jordan Hall. Stephanie has had the chance to study with Itzhak Perlman, Merry Peckham, Vivian Weilerstein, Kim Kashkashian, Robert McDonald, members of the Brentano Quartet, Borromeo Quartet, Cooperstown Quartet, and Shanghai Quartet, and Mai Motobuchi. She attended the Perlman Music Program, Carl Flesch Academy, and Lac Leman Masterclass in 2024, Taos Chamber Music Festival in 2023, and Kneisel Chamber Music Festival in 2022. She has collaborated with pianist Michael Ertzscheid from the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris in France, and performed Dvorak Piano Quintet with pianist Pi-Hsien Chen in Boston. Her piano trio from Affiliated Senior High School received the first prize of the National Taiwan Chamber Music Competition in 2019. She later participated in a Music For Food Broadcast with her trio in 2020. Stephanie and her string quartet were invited by the Taipei Economy and Cultural Office in Boston to perform annually on the National Day Reception since 2021.

Stephanie received a B.M. in cello performance from New England Conservatory under Paul Katz, she is now pursuing M.M. in cello performance with Laurence Lesser.