Sophia Yan (嚴倩君, pinyin: Yán Qiànjūn, b. October 8, 1986) is an American classical pianist, journalist, and Beijing correspondent at The Daily Telegraph.

Sophia Yan
Chinese: 嚴倩君
Born (1986-10-08) October 8, 1986 (age 38)
Alma materOberlin College and Conservatory of Music
Occupations
Political partyRepublican
Other political
affiliations
Conservative

Early life and education

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Yan was born to Taiwanese parents in Queens, New York. She majored in English and Piano Performance at Oberlin College and Conservatory of Music and graduated in 2009.[1][2] She is fluent in Mandarin and speaks basic Taiwanese, Cantonese, Spanish, and some Japanese.[2]

Career

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Early career in music

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Yan won 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,[3] First Place in the Battleground Symphony Concerto Competition,[4] Grand Prize in the Bookstaber Memorial Piano Competition,[5] First Place in the NJMTA Scholarship Competition [6] 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.”[7]

Yan has performed widely in the United States, Europe and Asia, appearing at Lincoln Center,[8] Carnegie Hall, Steinway Hall, CAMI Hall, Kennedy Center, St. Mark's, the Eastern Music Festival, Niagara International Chamber Music Festival, and the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada. Solo orchestral engagements include collaborations with the Battleground Symphony,[4] Rowan Chamber and East Brunswick Chamber Orchestras. She has also performed on the Composer's Voice Concert Series[9] in New York City as well as participating in the Vox Novus series Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame project.[10][11] She also provides the music for the Lawfare podcast.[12]

Journalism

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In July 2010, Yan started her journalism career as a reporter for Bloomberg News based in Hong Kong and Washington, D.C.[2][13] In 2013, Yan joined CNN. In 2014, as an Asia Business Reporter for CNNMoney, Yan covered the 2014 pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.[2]

Yan was a Beijing correspondent at CNBC. She covers topics from technology to economics in China and Asia.[2][14] As of 2019 she has been working for The Daily Telegraph.[2][15][16]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Sophia Yan '09: Student, pianist, and arts editor". Archived from the original on August 22, 2017. Retrieved May 6, 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Sophia Yan". Retrieved May 6, 2017.
  3. ^ Steinway Society Scholarship Winners 2004
  4. ^ a b Manalapan symphony to play spring concert BY DAVE BENJAMIN Staff Writer
  5. ^ Joseph Israel Bookstaber Piano Competition
  6. ^ njmta summer 2004
  7. ^ JERSEY; When Bad People (Translation: Teenagers) Do Good Things - New York Times
  8. ^ Bulletin Board Youngsters perform at Alice Tully Hall Archived 2007-03-13 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ "Composer's Voice Calendar & Concert History".
  10. ^ "Sophia Yan - Fifteen Minutes of Fame".
  11. ^ "Calendar » September 18, 1:00 PM – Composer's Voice Concert – Celebrating Our Children".
  12. ^ "Reporter's Notebook: Covering the Hong Kong Protests". 7 October 2014.
  13. ^ "Articles written by Sophia Yan at Bloomberg.com". Bloomberg News. 21 December 2012. Retrieved May 6, 2017.
  14. ^ "Sophia Yan at CNBC.com". CNBC. 27 February 2017. Retrieved May 6, 2017.
  15. ^ "The Daily Telegraph". eurotopics.net. Retrieved 2023-04-24.
  16. ^ "Sophia Yan". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2023-04-24.
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