Come watch 2024 FWC Solo winners Kana Funayama, marimba, and Sean Yang, piano perform a FREE concert at Englewood Christian Church in Yakima, Washington.
Ladies Musical Club
presents
Kana Funayama, Marimba
Sean Yang, Piano
for the
2024 FRANCES WALTON COMPETITION Solo WINNERS’ TOUR
Kaze no Sobyō Sana Fujimori
Eye in the Sky Ennis Harris
Verano Porteno, arr. Pius Cheung Astor Piazzolla
Kana Funayama, Marimba
Hungarian Rhapsody, Op. 68 David Popper
Kana Funayama, Marimba
Sean Yang, Piano
Keyboard Sonata in E Major, Hob. XVI:22 Franz Joseph Haydn
Selections from In The Mist Leoš Janáček
Etudes, Op. 10 Frédéric Chopin
No. 2 in A minor
No. 6 in E-flat minor
No. 4 in C-sharp minor
Sean Yang, Piano
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Kana Funayama is a Japanese percussionist, marimbist, and arranger whose performance career sees her in a wide range of engagements as soloist, ensemble player, and collaborative artist. She has been featured as a soloist at numerous concerts including at La Folle Journée TOKYO, “Geisai” in Tokyo, Eastman Percussion Ensemble, the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra in Japan, Walla Walla Symphony in Washington, and more. As an ensemble player, Funayama has performed with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Tokyo Geidai Philharmonia, film recordings at Warner Brothers, Sony Pictures Studio, John Williams Scoring Stage, and many more. Funayama holds her Bachelor of Music from Tokyo University of the Arts, and her Master of Music from Eastman School of Music with the esteemed Performance Certificate and Milton Schlesinger Percussion Prize. She is a candidate for Artist Diploma at the USC Thornton School of Music.
Sean Yang studies piano with Logan Skelton at the University of Michigan. Sean is a prizewinner at the Memphis International Piano Competition, MTNA National Round Young Artist Piano Competition, and the Blair School Concerto Competition. He made his solo debut in 2016 performing Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3, and subsequent engagements include the Nashville and Vanderbilt Symphony Orchestra. Sean has an upcoming concerto engagement with the Chautauqua Festival Orchestra in July of 2024. Sean spent his recent summers at Bowdoin and Aspen with Anton Nel, Julian Martin, and Douglas Humpherys. He studied with Amy Dorfman at Vanderbilt while earning a double major in Neuroscience and Piano. His research background includes redesigning ICU alarm monitors and investigating the benefits of listening to live classical music in the ICU. His research has been shared in major scientific journals such as Human Factors and Ergonomics Society and the International Journal of Critical Care.
Special thanks to Englewood Christian Church and:
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This project is supported in part by Creative West (formerly Western States Arts Federation or WESTAF) and the National Endowment for the Arts. To find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov.
