Born into a musical family, Yang Yang started music study initially on the piano with Prof. Li Qifang. Later, he started to study conducting respectively with Prof. Xu Xin and Prof. Wu Lingfen, and then was admitted to the Conducting Department of Central Conservatory of Music, being one of the students of Prof. Yu Feng.

In November 2006, Yang won the first place for his outstanding performance at the International Dimitris Mitropoulos Competition for Conductors in Greece which made him as the first conductor from China receiving award in a major international music competition.

As one of the leading conductors in China, Yang Yang has maintained close partnership with all major orchestras and opera houses in China. Meanwhile, he regularly conducts orchestras overseas including Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, German Philharmonic Orchestra of Cologne, StuttgarterPhilharmoniker, National Rhine Philharmonic Orchestra, New Brandenburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Italian Verona Opera House, Teatro Regio Torino, Italian Rome Philharmonic Orchestra, French Cannes Symphony Orchestra, Bordeaux Symphony Orchestra, Valencia Orchestra of Spain, Greek Symphony Orchestra, Athenian Chamber Orchestra and Korean Incheon Philharmonic, etc.

He has worked with various top soloists and vocalists including cellists Lynn Harrell, Alban Gerhard, Wang Jian, Natalia Gutman, violinists Maxim Vengerov, Gidon Kremer, Vadim Repin, Viktoria Mullova, Leonidas Kavakos, Midori, Sarah Chang, Augustin Dumay, Lenard Karpison, Cho-Liang Lin, pianists Gary Graffman, Lang Lang, Rudolf Buchbinder, Yefim Bronfman, Barry Douglas, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Kun-Woo Paik, Jon Kimura Parker,  soprano Sumi Jo, baritone Thomas Hampson, clarinetists Sabine Meyer, Wenzel Fuchs, French horn players Radovan Vlatkovic, Stefan Dohr, to name a few, as well as all the top Chinese instrumentalists and vocalists.

With prestigious recommendation from Maestro Long Yu, Yang Yang started his career in the year of 1998, at the First Beijing Music Festival (BMF). Since then, he has conducted operas and concerts at BMF eight years consecutively. In 2000, Yang Yang joined the team to establish the China Philharmonic Orchestra and served as a judge for the first recruitment examination. He then took on the positions of assistant conductor, resident conductor, assistant artistic director and principal conductor of the orchestra.In 2006, Yang Yang joined in the conducting masterclass by Maestro Myung-whun Chung in Korea. In 2009 Yang Yang co-founded the Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra (HPO), and in 2017 Yang Yang has led the founding of Hangzhou International Music Festival.

Since 2009, Yang Yang and HPO have successfully launched eighteen music seasons, and performed at leading festivals including Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Ravello Festival, Emilia Romagna Festival, Taormina Festival. He also toured with HPO extensively in Russia and Estonia. In 2018, Yang toured with HPO to five “Belt and Road” countries, including Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia and Hungary, as well as Japan, Korea and Thailand as the conductor, winning great applause from European and Asian audience and enjoying critical acclaim at home and abroad.

Yang Yang also devote opera ever since the beginning of his career, which led the appointment of Music Director and Chief Conductor of China National Opera House in 2016. During the past two decades Yang Yang has conducted China Philharmonic Orchestra, China National Opera House and Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra with opera productions including Le Nozze di Figaro, Die Zauberflöte, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, La Traviata, Rigoletto, Otello, Turandot, Madama Butterfly, La Bohème, Tosca,

Il tabarro, Suor Angelica, Gianni Schicchi, Cavalleria Rusticana, Pagliacci, Carmen. He has also premiered several opera by Chinese composers, including Night Banquet, Wolf  Cub Village, Songs Of The Long March, The Red Detachment of Women, Manas, Destiny, The Road, Struggle, Xiao Hong, and Hoh Xil.

Yang Yang is Music Director and Chief Conductor of China National Opera House, Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra, Music Director and Chief Conductor of Beijing Symphony Orchestra, and Artistic Director of CCOM Children Symphony Orchestra, and granted Top Level Recognition by Ministry of Culture & Tourism of People’s Republic of China.