Yuja Wang

[Randy W]

Yuja Wang

 

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Yuja Wang was born in Beijing and encouraged at a young age to make music by her dancer mother and percussionist father, starting the never-ending thirst for knowledge that has sustained her musical development. Yuja began piano lessons at the age of six and her progress was accelerated by studies at Beijing’s Central Conservatory of Music. In 1999 she moved to Canada to participate in the Morningside Music summer programme at Calgary’s Mount Royal College and thereafter enrolled as the youngest ever student at Mount Royal Conservatory. Wang’s exceptional gifts were widely recognised in 2001 with her appointment as a Steinway Artist, and again the following year when she was offered a place at Philadelphia’s prestigious Curtis Institute of Music where she studied with Gary Graffman.

 

By the time Yuja graduated from the Curtis Institute in May 2008, she had already gathered momentum following the spectacular success of her debut three years earlier with the National Arts Center Orchestra in Ottawa. Wang attracted widespread international attention in March 2007 when she replaced Martha Argerich on short notice in performances of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.1 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and within the span of just a few seasons she was working with conductors of the highest calibre. Over the past ten years of her career, she has worked with such pre-eminent Maestros as Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Valery Gergiev, Michael Tilson Thomas, Antonio Pappano, Charles Dutoit, and Zubin Mehta.

 

In January 2009 Yuja Wang became an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon recording artist. Her debut album, Sonatas & Etudes, prompted Gramophone to name her as its 2009 Young Artist of the Year. Her 2011 release of Rachmaninov’s Second Concerto and Paganini Rhapsody with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Claudio Abbado was nominated for a Grammy® Award in the Best Classical Instrumental Solo category. Subsequent releases for the yellow label include Fantasia, an album of encore pieces by Albéniz, Bach, Chopin, Rachmaninov, Saint-Saëns, Scriabin, and others; a live recording of Prokofiev’s Concertos Nos. 2 and 3 with Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, and an acclaimed coupling of Ravel’s two piano concertos with Fauré’s Ballade, recorded with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich and Lionel Bringuier. Reviewers around the world have documented the full range of Wang’s work, capturing the essence of her musicianship and observing the development of an artist blessed with consummate technical prowess, an inexhaustible creative imagination, and an unmatched stamina.

 

 

 

 

https://youtu.be/B8MmnV7Uxic

 

Edited February 4, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

in the Guardian, U.K.

 

Yuja Wang: 'If the music is beautiful and sensual, why not dress to fit?'

The Chinese piano prodigy takes no prisoners. She embraces Brahms and Beethoven as fiercely as she defends her right to wear what she likes

 

 

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Brahms is her latest passion. “In my 20s, I thought Brahms was square.” She turned 30 in February. “My favourite right now is the Intermezzi Op 117, No 3 in C sharp minor. Oh my God, I love it!” She could be talking shoes, which she also loves. “With Brahms, you need to feel grounded, as if the power comes up from your feet and the keyboard becomes an extension of your hands. Richter, I think, used to say he played from his thighs…” Richter covered his in baggy trousers; Wang’s are often bare and exposed. A profile in the New Yorker referred to her “extremely short and tight dresses that ride up as she plays, or clinging backless gowns that give an impression of near-nakedness ”.

 

The next day at her Paris concert, she changed after the interval from a gold gown into a tiny twist of shimmering green. Each was exquisite, and – at least from row Q – completely decent. Compared to a female tennis player she looked positively overdressed. What sticks most in the mind is the poetry and mastery in her performance of the Chopin Preludes.

 

“If a beautiful male pianist wears tight pants, I’m not going to think, ‘What’s in those pants’?” Really not, Yuja? Hoots of laughter. “OK, maybe. But if the music is beautiful and sensual, why not dress to fit? It’s about power and persuasion. Perhaps it’s a little sadomasochistic of me. But if I’m going to get naked with my music, I may as well be comfortable while I’m at it.”

 

 

Edited July 5, 2022 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/BeethovenAndBeyond/videos/1224492681011942/

Ludwig van Beethoven

about 11 months ago ·

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Yuja Wang

Edited February 4, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

from the NY Times

 

Review: Yuja Wang, Trying Comedy, Shows How Funny Virtuosity Can Be

 

 

In “The Clone,” however, those moments of playfulness and discovery were buried in jokes that quickly became uncomfortable, even offensive. The sketch’s conceit is a demonstration of all the capabilities of a hypothetical Yuja Wang clone. (Or robot? It’s never really clear.) She arrives in a large box that they say “smells of sweet and sour chicken.” The duo goes on to mock the Chinese language, and when the clone malfunctions, they laugh it off with a shrug: “Made in China!”

 

Even more difficult to take was the implication that these two men had mail-ordered a woman who obeys their every command and casually accepts their frequent remarks about her sexuality. At one point, Mr. Joo turned to the audience and said, “God, she’s so hot.” Among the cheapest jokes was “How do you turn her on?” followed by “I can think of a couple of ways.” And in the opening, when Mr. Joo came out onstage dressed as her, he said, “I know I’m not Yuja Wang, but some girlfriends do call me Huge-a Wang.”

 

It’s a shame. Because when the evening hewed more closely to truly musical comedy, it showed just how funny virtuosity — especially that of the multitalented Ms. Wang — can be.

 

[Randy W]

Yuja Wang ⭐ Interview with ArteConcert at KKL

Jun 28, 2019

Yuja Wang in Interview with ArteConcert at KKL Lucerne (Lucerne Festival in Summer 2018).

 

[Randy W]

The Impossible Virtuosity of Yuja Wang

from Rick Beato

In this episode we take a look at the incredible piano virtuoso, Yuja Wang.

 

Pianist Yuja Wang • Living the Classical Life Ep. 14

Yuja Wang – Pianist and Deutsche Grammophon Recording Artist

“Life... music and what I do... has to be intermixed, has to be together... or else I feel like I’m not alive.”

In an unusually intimate portrait, young piano superstar Yuja Wang speaks of her life and work, demonstrating by musical examples throughout—including a staggering and delightful rendition of an Art Tatum arrangement of “Tea for Two.” She describes her musical aspirations in contrast with audience perceptions, the value of practicing and not practicing, learning and relearning a piece, and the importance of struggle for musical results. She ends the interview with a touching tribute to the late Claudio Abbado. 

episode 14 • Filmed 2013 in the old Steinway Hall 

 

Edited February 4, 2023 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Chinese Pianist Yuja Wang has won the #GRAMMYs for Best Classical Instrumental Solo for her album “The American Project”, becoming the first Chinese musician to receive the award.

 

Chinese Pianist Yuja Wang has won the #GRAMMYs for Best Classical Instrumental Solo for her album “The American Project”, becoming the first Chinese musician to receive the award. pic.twitter.com/SSFYRwwtXd

— CGTN Global Watch (@GlobalWatchCGTN) February 5, 2024

 

— CGTN Global Watch (@GlobalWatchCGTN) February 5, 2024

 

Edited February 6 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

from the China Daily

Berlin orchestra sets a masterful tone

The Berliner Philharmoniker presented its first concert, featuring pianist Yuja Wang, at the Shanghai Grand Theatre on Wednesday. 

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The Berliner Philharmoniker begins its 10-day residence in Shanghai this week from Monday to next Tuesday. The prestigious orchestra from Germany will join hands with Chinese pianist Yuja Wang to present 11 concerts, including four symphonic performances, and a series of educational projects around the city.

This is the first time the 142-year-old German symphony will hold a residency program in China. More than 6,000 tickets for four symphony concerts sold out within five minutes in April, when ticket sales kicked off, according to the China Shanghai International Arts Festival, host of the program. The festival also revealed that more than 40 percent of the ticket buyers were not from Shanghai, but 21 other provinces and cities across China and abroad.

 

 

[Martin B]

49 minutes ago, Randy W said:

from the China Daily

Berlin orchestra sets a masterful tone

The Berliner Philharmoniker presented its first concert, featuring pianist Yuja Wang, at the Shanghai Grand Theatre on Wednesday. 

 

 

He's back! Hope all is well Randy.

[Randy W]

On 7/4/2024 at 9:41 AM, Martin B said:

He's back! Hope all is well Randy.

Not everything, but I'm doing okay!