Sophia Yan

Sophia Yan (嚴倩君, pinyin: Yán Qiànjūn, b. October 8, 1986) is an American classical pianist.

Born of Chinese descent in the borough of Queens in New York City, Sophia Yan is prizewinner of the International Concert Alliance Competition and a laureate of the International Young Artist Piano Competition in Washington, D.C. In addition, she is a two-time winner of the Music Teachers National Association Competition of Eastern New Jersey, and prize-winning alumnus of the 2004 New York Piano Competition. Her awards include four-time First Prize winner of the Steinway Society Competition, First Place in the Battleground Symphony Concerto Competition, Grand Prize in the Bookstaber Memorial Piano Competition, First Place in the NJMTA Scholarship Competition and Grand Prize in the Goldblatt Scholarship Competition.

As Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times describes, when Yan plays “the music literally pulls her off the piano bench; she ranges up and down the keyboard so quickly and with such ferocity that mere sitting will not do.”