Described as a musician with “absolute control, absolute understanding and intent” (Sitka Sentinel), pianist Sean Terada Yang has connected with audiences around the globe with his “lush and rapturous” playing (The Courier).

Born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, Sean made his concerto debut at age 16 with the Germantown Symphony Orchestra performing Sergei Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major. Since then, he has gone on to perform with the Tennessee All-State, Nashville Symphony, Vanderbilt University, Chautauqua Symphony, and Chautauqua Music Festival Orchestras. His 2024 collaboration with the Chautauqua Dance and Orchestra programs through Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini helped celebrate the famed Chautauqua Institution’s 150th anniversary.

Between the 2024-2026 seasons, Sean presented solo concerts in Boston, Detroit, Seattle, Fort Worth, Detroit, Sitka, Houston, Minneapolis, Spain, Canada, and Japan. The upcoming season features re-invitations to Seattle and Japan as well as his first ever performance in Arizona. His competition successes include top prizes in the Seattle International, Frances Walton, Memphis International, Chautauqua Sigma Alpha Iota Concerto, Beardsley, Young Texas Artists, and National Federation of Music Clubs Competitions. He also was selected as a Young Artist in Residence for the famed American Public Media’s Performance Today® radio program in 2026.

Sean is also sought after as a chamber musician, and his yearly concerts are filled with collaborative work around the world. He has recently appeared in programs with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth, University of Nevada-Las Vegas Chamber Music Society, Redfish Music Festival (Oregon), Castleman Quartet Program (New York), LyricaFest (Massachusetts), and Garth Newel Music Center (Virginia). Noteworthy collaborations include concerts with pianists Logan Skelton and Aviram Reichert and chamber performances with violinist Charlie Castleman. With his longtime group Trio Laval, Sean also performed in the Chamber Music Hall of the Philharmonie Berlin.

His collaborative work has led him to premiere dozens of new compositions, and he frequently appears on Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music new music concerts. His recent premieres include compositions by Jake Berran, Yu-Shiuan Mei, Angela Ortiz, Harry Gonzalez, and Asher Lurie.

Sean’s collaborations extend well beyond the concert hall. His research interests combine his undergraduate backgrounds in medicine and music, and he currently works under pianist Mi-Eun Kim and MIT research scientist Praneeth Namburi through their piano biomechanics research. He also earned a Presser Foundation grant to research the medical benefits of live music in the ICU patient recovery process at the MDAnderson Center’s Music-in-Medicine initiative. His research has been published in the British Journal of Anaesthesia, International Journal of Critical Care, Military Medicine, and Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

As an educator, Sean is rapidly building a reputation for engaging audiences with a welcoming approach that connects their listening experiences with outside disciplines in nature, arts, and the sciences. Noteworthy coachings and masterclasses include TCU’s Texas Chamber Music Initiative, UNLV School of Music, Seattle’s Chopin Academy of Music, University of Michigan’s Piano Pedagogy Laboratory Program, and DACAMERA’s Music Encounters education initiative. He has also served as an adjudicator for the Seattle International Piano Competition, the SIPF Bach Festival, and the Scottsdale Chopin Festival. His educational outreach tours through Germany, Eastern Washington, Minneapolis, and the greater Pacific Northwest have received great acclaim from music organizations such as the Ladies Musical Club of Seattle and Minnesota Public Radio.

After receiving his Bachelor’s in neuroscience and piano from Vanderbilt University with Amy Dorfman, Sean earned two Master’s degrees at the University of Michigan in Piano Performance and Chamber Music with Logan Skelton and Amy I-Lin Cheng. Sean is now pursuing his DMA studies at Rice University with Jon Kimura Parker. 

Sean is a DACAMERA Young Artist.