Clara Yang : Ex Machina
(piano and projected media)

Centered around the piano—a machine of sound and expression—it reflects on how technology shapes both artistic experience and human identity. The project invites audiences to rethink the boundaries between human and machine, using music to explore the machine as both an artistic medium and a philosophical idea.

Visual art for Ex Machina was created by acclaimed new media artist Xuan. Renowned composers Philip Glass, Reena Esmail and Christopher Cerrone’s ground breaking works are presented alongside innovative commissioned works by Liliya Ugay, Allen Anderson, Stephen Anderson, Lee Weisert, and Phil Young, and Clara Yang. One of America’s top rock guitarists Yvette Young and Clara Yang created a new work titled Conception, vividly portraying the emergence of AI consciousness.

Ex Machina will be presented on May 11, 2026 as part of Carnegie Hall’s United in Sound: America at 250 festival!

Clara Yang’s concert is the second in our new “88+” series, which focuses on 20th- and 21st-century piano repertoire and world premieres, and is supported by the Amphion Foundation and individual donors. Sarah Cahill opens the series on May 9.

Chinese-American pianist Clara Yang has been praised for her “breathtaking technical prowess” and “probing emotional depth.” She has performed at leading venues including Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, and Madrid’s National Auditorium. She has appeared on major series such as Carolina Performing Arts and the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts.

She has performed as a soloist with conductors including Vladimir Ashkenazy and Long Yu, and with orchestras such as the European Union Youth Orchestra, Pacific Symphony, and the North Carolina Symphony.

Equally at home in classical, contemporary, and interdisciplinary work, Yang has collaborated with artists across genres and premiered Chen Yi’s Piano Concerto Four Spirits, written for her. She has also performed in The Complete Philip Glass Piano Etudes and developed interdisciplinary projects, including Ex Machina.

Her recordings have received international acclaim, including a Global Music Awards Gold Medal for her album Folding Time. She has been featured in major media outlets and served as a reviewer for YoungArts and a panelist for New Music USA.

Yang is Head of Keyboard Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She holds degrees from Eastman, Yale, and USC Thornton.

Location: Dresher Ensemble Studio, 2201 Poplar Street Oakland, CA United States