Born in Taiwan, Jeff Yang came to the U.S. at the age of eight and has pursued his study with fine classical violinists and conductors all over the world. Mr. Yang is also one of the most versatile string players, having performed blues, rock, and jazz with numerous internationally renowned artists. He is also adept at other instruments including viola, bass guitar, and the baroque recorder. Currently, Mr. Yang serves as the violin and recorder soloist in Mannheim Steamroller and is the owner of Chicago Strings, a violin shop in the heart of Evanston, Illinois.

In the spring of 2009, Mr. Yang toured nationally as the Concertmaster and conductor for Simon Cowell’s group, Il Divo. For the past ten years, he was the first violinist of Corky Siegel’s Chamber Blues, a fusion chamber group consisting of harmonica, piano, string quartet, and Indian tablas, and also served as the concertmaster with the New Millennium Orchestra and numerous local symphony orchestras. Mr. Yang has given numerous master classes at universities, high schools all over the U.S., coached the chamber orchestras and sectionals at DePaul University, and has taught in the outreach program for the Ravinia Festival in 2007.

In Chicago, Mr. Yang performs regularly with the Grant Park Symphony, Metropolis Symphony, Chicago Opera Theater, and the Chicago Philharmonic in the and contracts music at various events all over Chicago. Being well versed in many genres of music, Jeff has performed on PBS's Soundstage with Jewel, Faith Hill, Peter Cetera, Dennis DeYoung, Lyle Lovett, Ron Isley,Burt Bacharach, and on the Oprah show with artists such as Andrea Bocelli, Il Divo, Monica, and David Foster. He has also performed live with artists such as The Three Tenors, Kansas, Smokey Robinson, Bernardette Peters, and Diana Krall. Jeff is a much in demand studio musician in Chicago and has served as concertmasters for the Spoleto Festival Orchestra in Italy, the National Repertory Orchestra in Colorado, Ballet Legere in Chicago, and the Emerald City Philharmonic in Seattle, and as assistant concertmaster of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and the International Symphony Orchestra in Israel.

In the fall of 2009, Mr. Yang opened a violin shop called Chicago Strings to serve the needs of students and professionals all over the Chicagoland area and the midwest. In addition to providing fine instruments and repair work, he is also and expert in violin acoustics and setup and hopes to educate stringed players on how their instruments work and sound their best.

Mr. Yang holds Bachelor of Arts, Music, and Industrial Engineering from the University of Washington in Seattle, Masters of Music from Northwestern University, and a Certificate in Performance from DePaul University, studying with renowned concertmaster Steven Staryk, pedagogue Gerardo Ribeiro, and former first violinist of the Muir and Chicago string quartets, Joe Genualdi.