Pianist/Improviser Joey (Ian-Joe) Chang, obtained his B.M. and M.M. from the Juilliard School.
Following his residency as an improviser at the Banff Centre in the summer of 2017, Joey works extensively in collaborative, cross-discipline, freeform improvisation. He has performed free improvisation around NYC in contexts ranging from free jazz to classical piano including The Stone at the New School, Cornelia St. Cafe Underground, The Church of the Blessed Sacrament, Spectrum NYC, and Juilliard’s Paul Hall. He has performed with musicians such as Peter Evans, Michael Formanek, Jim Black, Weasel Walter, Luke Stewart, Immanuel Wilkins, Jasmine Wilson, and Jack Mcguire. As an improvising soloist, he performed improvisation in a classical solo piano concert featuring his mentor, Jerome Lowenthal and Vassily Primakov at the Sparkhill concert series and Bronxville women’s club. He has composed structured improvisation for art installations as well as dance choreography performed at student choreography showcases at Marymount Manhattan College. At Juilliard, he was the organizer and leader of the “Improv You Are Enough!” sessions, a series of informal jam sessions between musicians, dancers, and actors, and continues to network and workshop collaborative improvisation in these settings.
Joey gave his first formal recital at age 10 with a solo concert during the WPPI international piano festival. He garnered awards and recognition from local competitions as well as international competitions, including International Russian Music Piano Competition, New Orleans International Young artist and Schimmel International Junior. Joey was the youngest top-prize winner of the Jacob Flier International Piano Competition in 2009 and made a debut concerto performance under the baton of maestro Vladimir Feltsman. The performance brought a review from the Time-Herald Record for playing “…accompaniments and cadenzas with precocious agility and focus, letting the bell-like arpeggios ring at his fingertips with precision and ease…”
At Juilliard, Joey was the 2nd-place winner in the 2015 piano concerto competition, 3rd place winner of the 2016 Munz scholarship, and a finalist of the 2016 and 2017 Gina Bachauer scholarship competitions. He was a participant of the Hamamatsu International Piano competition 2015 in Japan and was awarded honorary medals for participation in the USASU Bosendorfer 2017 in Arizona and Maria Canals 2017 in Barcelona. He was a fellow of the Music Academy of the West under the Lee Luria Scholarship as well as a fellow of Pianofest in the Hamptons.
An avid composer, Joey began to compose at 6 and performed his first original work in the Yamaha USA national “Junior Original Composer” concert at age 7. He has since composed music for solo piano, chamber groups, and piano and chamber orchestra premiered at Juilliard’s Double Vision concert series.
A passionate believer in musical advocacy and outreach, Joey is a member of and has participated in educational programs run by organizations like ASTEP and Sing-For-Hope based in New York. In the summer of 2015, Joey spent 6-weeks in Taiwan, including two weeks of living and teaching in the mountains of Taidong in a community of Taiwanese Bunun aboriginal descendants. The project culminated in a concert held in Hsing-Kang, Chiayi in which Joey performed original compositions and improvisations based on his experiences in Taiwan in a collaboration with the Hsing-Kang elementary school orchestra.
Joey began private piano lessons with Dr. Tehling Chiang and studied under Professor Robert Hamilton at Arizona State University at age 13. At Juilliard, Joey was under the mentorship of Jerome Lowenthal, as well as workshopping improvisation with Noam Sivan.
Source from Joey Chang
Posted in 10/2019
