Claudia Yang, 27, started playing the piano when she was five.

She went to Vienna to further her studies in 1991 and two years later was admitted to the Vienna Conservatory of Music, becoming a student of renowned pianist Paul Badura Skoda.

In order to adopt different styles, Yang also learned from Sterniuk Orysia in the Ukraine and Ludwing Hoffmann in Germany.

In 1996, Yang won the prize for the Best Interpreter of Romantic Music in the Elena-Rombro Stepanow International Piano Competition in Vienna.

The following year, Yang graduated from the conservatory as the best piano student.

In recent years, Yang has given solo concerts in many European countries and her fame has risen rapidly.

This will be her second performance in Beijing. In September 1999, she gave a solo concert at the Beijing Concert Hall.

"That night I received very warm applause and the Beijing audience showed high musical accomplishment, which I did not expect before," she said.

Since her grandparents and husband are Chinese, Yang said she feels a surge of warmth in Beijing and wants to perform often in China.

(China Daily 03/29/2001)