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International
Westfjords
Piano Festival

4th Edition: August 6-13, 2025

Concerts 2024

All concerts this year will be free of charge thanks to our generous sponsors and grant awards.

About

The International Westfjords Piano Festival presents world-class piano recitals in the beautiful Westfjords region of Northwest Iceland. Each year invited musicians will produce an exciting program with a unique artistic vision and give masterclasses and workshops to the students in the community. In our 3rd edition held in August 2024, the artist concerts will be held in Hólmavík and Patreksfjörður before culminating at Harpa for Menningarnótt (Culture Night) in Reykjavík, one of the largest annual cultural events in Iceland.

All concerts this year will be free of charge thanks to our generous sponsors and grant awards.

Our international artists this year are Antoinette Perry (USA), professor at USC Thornton School of Music (Los Angeles), Carl Zhang (Canada/Austria), Vienna-based concert and collaborative pianist, and Andrew J. Yang (USA/Iceland), artistic director.

Westfjords Piano Festival is gratefully funded and sponsored by Uppbyggingarsjóði Vestfjarða, Tónlistarsjóður, Eyrarrósin, Listamannalaun (Artist’s Salary Fund), Vesturbyggð Menningar og Ferðamálaráð, Lionsklúbbur Patreksfjarðar, and Vestur Restaurant.

2024 Artists

Andrew J. Yang
(USA/Iceland)
Artistic Director

American pianist, Andrew J. Yang, has an active performance career across the Europe, North America, and Asia. Deemed by The San Francisco Examiner as "a prodigy, [running] the emotional gamut from brooding introspection to manic exuberance”, Yang has performed at venues such as Auditorium Marcel Landowski (Paris), Musiikkitalo (Helsinki), Jewish Cultural Center (Krakow), Mozarthaus (Vienna), Hoheikan (Sapporo), Carnegie Hall (New York City), and concert halls in Llanes and Ribadesella (Spain). Yang was recently awarded the top prize at the 30th International FLAME Piano Competition in Paris, France (2019). He has also received awards from numerous competitions including the International Heida Hermanns Piano Competition and the Metropolitan International Piano Competition in New York City. In 2018, Yang was awarded a "White Rose" Medal of Honor for musical excellence from President of Finland, Sauli Niinistö. Since 2020, Yang has resided in Iceland. He spent three years teaching at Tónlistarskóli Vesturbyggðar based in Patreksfjörður. Yang is currently based in the Reykjavík area where he is on the piano faculty at Tónlistarskólinn í Grafarvogi and Tónskóli Sigursveins.

Antoinette Perry, born into a family of professional musicians, gave her first public performance at the age of four. Since then, she has concertized extensively throughout the United States, Germany, France, England, and China. She has been heard often on NPR and the Bravo! Channel, and has recorded for the Crystal, Harmonie, Pacific Rainbow, Pacific Serenades, Excelsior, and Navona/PARMA labels. Her first solo album, “Beethoven Bookends,” was released under the Navona LIVE/PARMA label in 2021. Le Dauphine Libéré has lauded her “irreproachable technique” and “a musical comprehension which could only belong to one of the Greats.” The LA Times has praised her “exceptional artistry”, her “superb Schubert in every respect". She was one of only two women representing the United States in the 6th Van Cliburn International Competition (1981). Ms. Perry served on the UCLA piano faculty for 12 years before joining the faculty of the USC Thornton School of Music in 1996, where she currently teaches. The California Association of Professional Music Teachers awarded her their 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award.

Antoinette Perry
(USA)
Guest Artist

Canadian pianist, Carl Zhang, has garnered him top prizes in various esteemed competitions, including the Concours de Musique du Canada, Concours de musique Sorel-Tracy, Concours de musique de Sherbrooke, Concours Clermont-Pépin, and the Concours Gustav Mahler. Zhang received two Master’s degrees in piano performance at two prestigious institutions: University of Montreal and the Geneva Haute École de Musique. In 2018, he was accepted into the PhD program at the University of Montreal, with a dedicated focus on exploring the music of the revered Viennese composer, Franz Schubert. However, the world had unexpected plans in store. During an exchange year at the University of Performing Arts in Vienna, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted Carl's plans to return to Canada. Faced with uncertainties and unable to return home, he made the decision to stay in the vibrant Austrian capital, Vienna. Since then, Vienna has become the artistic hub of Carl Zhang's multifaceted career and life, where he performs in concerts, collaborates with various singers, teaches piano, coaches aspiring vocalists, and accompanies instrumentalists.