Korean pianist Joyce Yang is a particularly poetic performer and has built up a big fanbase in Australia with her regular appearances here.

But it’s not just the poetry that impresses when she sits at the Steinway, as she showed with her sparkling performance of Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

Joyce Yang. Photo © KT Kim

When she got to the mighty cadenza at the end of the first movement there was an arresting power beneath the dazzling technique and sense that each of the notes was there for a purpose and not just for the sake of virtuosity.

Colour is the key to Yang’s playing and not surprisingly so as she is one of 5 per cent of people who experience synaesthesia and sees a landscape of hues when she plays music. There is also clarity and control. The Allegro following the famous opening is full of nuance and shading and Yang’s animated facial expressions showed her full engagement with the music and the musicians around her.

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