The second member of the duo of the youngest contestants of the 2026 National Youth Music Competition (NYMC) is the 14-year-old pianist Haotian (Mike) Yang. The others are cellist Anja Shaw from Hermanus and pianist Dylan Price from Johannesburg.
The young rising star says he entered the contest to follow the lead of his older brother and fellow contestant, pianist Juntian (David).
Young Haotian feels that by participating in the NYMC, he can gain experience in stage performance, plus grow more confidence in his English and Afrikaans oral skills.
As the middle child, he is surrounded by music. Apart from his older brother, who also plays in this year’s NYMC, he has a younger sister who plays the piano and the violin. When one digs deeper, we learnt that his great-grandfather was a conductor.
The young musician also plays the guitar. He started playing music at the age of six. Like his brother, his first music teacher was a Mr Lin, a friend of their parents. Prof Mario Nell is nowadays his tutor.
He says he has two musical role models. They are his father, Joe, and his current music teacher, Prof Mario Nell.
According to this Grade 8 learner at Rondebosch Boys High School, he practices one and a half to two and a half hours of piano per day. His hobbies include badminton, mathematics and chess.
The Polish composer Frédéric Chopin is his favourite composer. “I like his simple poetic style of writing music.”
It is still early days to talk about plans. He simply says he will get a job.
He describes himself as simple, and his motto in life is: “Never give up, because you know the bed is waiting for you after you leave.”
If he can be an inanimate object, the young pianist wants to be a plane. “I can see a lot from that view and perspective,” he smiles.