Ava Young was born in Calgary, Canada. She began playing the piano at the age of 6, with composer-pianist Janice Thoreson. Ms. Thoreson gave her both piano and music theory lessons. More intensive music theory and music history lessons followed with the piano and music theory teacher Phyllis Murison.

Her next piano lessons were with Dr. Lillian Upright in Edmonton. Dr. Upright was on staff at the University of Alberta. With her guidance, Ava Young obtained the Performer's Diploma in classical piano performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.

Further piano lessons were taken with Professor Robert Rogers in Vancouver. Professor Rogers was head of the piano department at the University of British Columbia.

After completing a Bachelor of Arts (major in French literature) and a Bachelor of Education (teaching French as a second language), both at UBC in Vancouver, she decided to go abroad.

In Thailand, she worked at the International School of Bangkok. There, she accompanied the choirs during their music classes, and in concerts that took place in and outside of the school. She also organized the private music lessons that were offered by the music department.

Then came the move to Düsseldorf, Germany in 2001. Her piano studies continued with Professor Herbert Drechsel in Monheim. Professor Drechsel was a retired professor of the Robert Schumann Conservatory in Düsseldorf.

At this point, she decided to fully concentrate on music. This was made possible at the Conservatory of Maastricht in The Netherlands. The composer-pianist Avi Schönfeld guided her entire classical piano studies from 2005 to 2012. Mr. Schönfeld had himself studied, among others, with Arthur Rubinstein, Ilona Vincze-Krausz, and Nadia Boulanger.

She obtained the Bachelor of Music in 2009 and the Master of Music in 2012, both in classical piano performance.

Private lessons with conductor and sound engineer Kaling Hanke followed in Düsseldorf, from 2018 to 2019. This was specifically for piano accompaniment of opera repertoire.

Jury member (for piano and other instruments) of several classical music competitions in France, through the Association Les Musicales du Centre.

When she isn’t playing the piano, she’s dancing flamenco in Paris and Jerez, in the classes of Joaquín Grilo. Her enthusiasm for flamenco dancing led her to begin exploring flamenco music in more detail. In 2021, she began recording the traditional flamenco piano works of composer-pianist Dr. Lola Fernández Marín, originally from Córdoba. Dr. Fernández teaches classical music at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Madrid, and flamenco music at the Música Creativa School in Madrid.

Since August 2023, in addition to her lessons in traditional flamenco with Dr. Fernández in Madrid, she’s been taking lessons in contemporary flamenco with composer-pianist David Peña Dorantes in Seville. Alongside studying his works, she’s being encouraged by Dorantes to begin improvising.

Ava Young is available for concerts (solo, chamber music), accompaniment, and for piano lessons. She lives in Düsseldorf, Germany.

The concert pianist speaks English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. She'd be delighted to respond to any inquiries in these languages.