
“Winning combination of passion, imagination, and integrity." raves the New York Concert Review, describing Ms. Young-Ah Tak's pianism. Since making her New York debut at the Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall with the Juilliard Symphony, Ms. Tak has performed as a recitalist, a soloist, and a chamber musician in the United States, Canada, Austria, Germany, Italy, Korea and Japan. Her performances have been broadcast on WQXR (New York), WFMT (Chicago), WBJC (Baltimore), WCLV (Cleveland), KPAC (Texas) and KBS (Korea) and the LOOP, Chicago’s cable station.
Ms. Tak is the Silver Medal winner at the San Antonio International Piano Competition, where she also received “Best Performance of a Classical Work” award. She is also the winner of the International Corpus Christi Young Artists' Competition, and top prize winner in numerous other competitions including the Hilton Head International Piano Competition, the Valsesia-Musica International Piano Competition (Italy), the Missouri Southern International Piano Competition, the Ettlingen International Piano Competition (Germany), the Juilliard Concerto Competition, the International Fulbright Concerto Competition, and the Heida Hermanns International Piano Competition.
Ms. Tak's orchestral appearances include: the Filharmonia Pomorska (Poland), the Greater Lansing Symphony Orchestra, the Oltenia Philharmonic Orchestra (Romania), the North Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, the NEC Philharmonia, the Korean Symphony Orchestra, the Ulsan Philharmonic and the Busan Philharmonic Orchestra in her native Korea. She has performed at Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Jordan Hall in Boston, the Myra Hess Recital Series in Chicago, Wharton Center in Michigan, Ceramic Palace Hall in Seoul, Columbia University, Trinity Wall Street, Sequenza 21 Concert Series and Yamaha Piano Salon in New York. Ms. Tak has also performed at Ravinia Festival, Music@Menlo Chamber Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, the Banff Centre for the Arts, Yellow Barn Music Festival, Fayetteville Arts Festival, Busan and Tongyeong International Music Festivals in Korea.
An active chamber musician, Ms. Tak has collaborated with artists such as Robert Mann, Nicholas Mann, Bonnie Hampton and members of the Florestan Trio and Ma’a lot Quintet. She is also a recipient of the New England Conservatory’s Honors Ensemble Awards.
Ms. Tak received her Bachelor of Music degree from The Juilliard School and her Master's degree with high distinction from the New England Conservatory where she also earned her Graduate Diploma as a Presidential Scholar. Ms. Tak is currently pursuing her Doctorate of Musical Arts at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, and has studied with Leon Fleisher, Russell Sherman, Wha Kyung Byun, Yong Hi Moon and Martin Canin. She has served on the piano faculties at the Preparatory Division of the Peabody Institute and Yellow Barn Chamber Music Festival’s Young Artists Program, and is currently an Assistant Professor of Piano at the Southeastern University, Florida.
The debut recording of Judith Zaimont's “Wizards” (2003) by Ms. Tak was released from Albany Records to great critical acclaim.