Ann Yeung
Associate Professor of Harp
and Chair of the String Division
B.M. with highest distinction and honors, Artist Diploma, Performer’s Certificate, M.M. and D.M. (all in harp performance) from Indiana University. Student of Susann McDonald, JoAnn Turovsky, Sally Maxwell, and Penny Howk Beavers.
Known for her bold and personal interpretations as well as her dedication to and success as a teacher, Ann Yeung has established herself as one of the foremost harpists of her generation. Currently Editor of the World Harp Congress Review, her recent activities include master classes in Mexico City, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taipei; world premieres at the National Flute Convention in New York City and the Tenth World Harp Congress in Amsterdam; performances at the 20th Soka International Harp Festival in Japan, First Asian Harp Fesitval in Hong Kong, 2nd International Harp Festival in Mexico City, and International Computer Music Conference in Montréal; and presentations at the American Harp Society’s National Summer Institute and the American String Teachers Association National Conference.
Upcoming activities master classes and a lecture on Parish Alvars at the Royal Academy of Music in London and a world premiere at the Twelfth World Harp Congress in Vancouver.
Professor Yeung has performed extensively throughout the world. Dedicated to the expansion of the harp’s repertoire, she has premiered many works, including her transcription of the Goldberg Variations at Carnegie Hall in 1999 as a winner of Artists International, and most recently of multimedia works such as Stephen Andrew Taylor’s Agoraphobia for flute, harp, and interactive electronics. She has won many competitions, including top prizes in the Seventh Nippon International Harp Competition and the Second Lily Laskine International Harp Competition, the American String Teachers Association National Solo Competition, National Anne Adams Awards, and National Ruth Lorraine Close Awards.
Her musical career was launched when she became the only person to simultaneously receive First Prize in the two highest divisions of the American Harp Society’s national competition as well as the Prix Renié. Her articles have established her authority on the works of Henriette Renié. She has recorded for a number of labels, including Innova, Fons, Albany Records, and Cadenza. Her articles and reviews have appeared in the World Harp Congress Review, American Harp Journal, Association de Internationale des Harpists et Amis de la Harpe (A.I.H), United Kingdom Harp Association, and American String Teacher. She is a contributing author to the ASTA book A Harp in the Schools: Guide for School Ensemble Directors and Harpists. She has also served as Second Vice-President of the American Harp Society and is co-chair of the 2012 American Harp Society 50th anniversary Commission Project committee. Her students include prizewinners in international competitions, a Fulbright scholar, members of professional orchestras throughout the world, university faculty members, and the innovative harp quartet, the HarpCore 4(HC4). As head of the harp program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, she conducts an annual Summer Harp Class at Illinois (SHC) in early June each year.
I take great interest in developing the individual creativity and artistry of my students. My ultimate goal is to teach students to teach themselves and to help them develop to their fullest potential as musicians and as people with respect for history, generosity in their endeavors, and ambition for the future. I feel that having an open mind, one which can absorb, evaluate, and determine what it wishes to do, is vital to one's creativity. The layers and associations in music are endless, and I teach my students to search for as many of those layers as they can. It is my intention to provide an innovative and comprehensive education that prepares my students to become artists of the 21st century who enjoy and believe in what they have chosen to do.