10 Questions with Julia Yang
Where did you grow up?
In Tallahassee, Florida! In fact, we’ll be heading there shortly for our opening concert of the season on the Artist Series of Tallahassee!
What made you realize that music was your path?
I began playing cello at age 6, and had a dedicated love/hate relationship with practicing from then on (mostly love, now)… A turning point was a high school summer at the Meadowmount School of Music where I discovered a close-knit musical community and eventual cello professor at Northwestern, Hans Jørgen Jensen, who was a huge inspiration to me.
How would you describe the music that you typically create/perform?
Alongside getting to know the core classical piano trio repertoire and exploring new composers’ work, we’ve begun creating arrangements of music ranging from Alma Mahler songs to Irish traditionals to medieval chant. These arrangements take on very different forms and sound worlds which we’ve been exploring and improvising upon in the rehearsal room. I can’t say there’s a typical version of this!
Impossible Burger, beyond burger, regular burger, or turkey burger?
I swore off most burgers for years, but unfortunately was won over by the “regular burger” a few years ago...
Who are your biggest musical influences?
Too many to properly say. I owe so much to my many dedicated cello teachers and professors: Hans Jensen, Laurence Lesser, Yeesun Kim, and my first teachers, Lubomir Georgiev and Greg Sauer.
What ‘s your favorite part of your new album INK?
Brigid’s voice. Just kidding - aside from the music itself, I loved the process of researching the composers and their lives, discovering how they intersected with artists and writers, and, with the album, trying to capture this moment in time through the lens of their music and words.
Has there been one particular moment in your musical career that you're most proud of?
I think the performing life requires courage in a way I wouldn’t have expected when I chose this path. I remember jumping off a 30 foot drop into the ocean thinking, “this isn’t as scary as the cello solo at the opening of Shostakovich’s Piano Trio.”
What made you want to record this album/ Where did you get the idea for this album?
One of the few silver linings of the pandemic was the space to imagine an album larger in concept than the traditional program we planned to record. Our 2020 spring and summer months were filled with research and exchange of ideas, as we weren’t able to rehearse or actually make music together at the time. For instance, that spring I was reading Jean Echenoz’ Ravel which mentioned how Ravel kept Vincent Scotto’s records in his personal collection -- a finding that eventually led to our selection of INK’s opening track!
What’s the next thing for you & Merz?
Looking forward to a full season of live (!) concerts, continuing the formation of our nonprofit, and the creation of two shows with two directors we’re very excited to work with!
If you could have dinner with any 3 musicians living or dead who would the be ( why? )
Yo-Yo Ma - a constant inspiration for the way he engages with the world, crosses boundaries, and brings communities together through music.
Rachmaninoff - biased by his cello sonata, I’m curious what a human with that kind of heart is like to have dinner with.
Josephine Baker - our arrangement of her performance starts our album, and we find her to be radical, courageous and inspiring on so many levels!