Yuja Wang

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Biography

Yuja Wang (; http://www.yujawang.com/ born February 10, 1987) is a Han Chinese|Chinese classical pianist. She was born in Beijing, began studying piano there at age six, and went on to study at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing.

Early life

Wang comes from a musical family. She entered Beijing|Beijing's Central Conservatory of Music at age seven and studied there for three years. At age 11, Wang was accepted as the youngest student in the Morningside_Music_Bridge_International_Music_Festival|Morningside Music Bridge International Music Festival at Mount_Royal_University|Mount Royal University in Calgary|Calgary, Canada. http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=_0WT7cP9_Po. After several summers of participating in the program, Wang moved to Canada at age 14 to continue her studies at the Mount Royal University Conservatory. http://www.mtroyal.ca/ProgramsCourses/FacultiesSchoolsCentres/TheConservatory/NewsMediaRoom/ssdata_cons_news_yuja.htm

Career

In 1998, Wang won 3rd Prize in the Ettlingen International Competition for Young Pianists, in Ettlingen , Germany. In 2001, she won Third Prize and Special Jury Prize (awarded to an especially superior finalist of less than 20 years in age, prize money of 500,000 Japanese Yen) in the Piano Section at the First Sendai International Music Competition in Sendai , Japan.

In 2003 Wang made her European debut with the Tonhalle Orchestra in Zurich, Switzerland , playing Beethoven 's Piano Concerto No. 4 under the baton of David Zinman . She made her North American debut in Ottawa in the 2005–06 season replacing Radu Lupu performing the Beethoven concerto with Pinchas Zukerman conducting.

On September 11, 2005, Wang was named a 2006 biennial Gilmore Young Artist award winner, given to the most promising pianists age 21 and younger. As part of the award, she received $15,000, appeared at Gilmore Festival concerts, and had a new piano work commissioned for her.

Starting at age 15, she studied for five years with Gary Graffman , who was also Lang Lang (pianist)|Lang Lang's teacher, at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania, and graduated in May 2008. She is increasing the number of concerts she is playing, and has "developed a novel reputation" of replacing sick pianists, yet going on "to deliver a knockout performance."

In 2006–2007, she performed with the New York Philharmonic , the Houston Symphony , the Chicago Symphony , and San Francisco Symphony , the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Japan, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic in the Netherlands, the China Philharmonic in Beijing and the Guangzhou Symphony and the Santa Fe, New Mexico|Santa Fe Chamber Music
Festival.

In March 2007, Wang replaced the legendary pianist Martha Argerich in concerts held in Boston.Matthew Westphal, "Yuja Wang Replaces Martha Argerich with Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Dutoit conducting", found at . Accessed August 28, 2008. Argerich had cancelled her appearances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra on four subscription concerts from March 8 to March 13. Wang performed Tchaikovsky 's Piano Concerto No. 1, with Charles Dutoit conducting, receiving highly favorable reviews.

On March 14, 2007, Wang was featured on National Public Radio|National Public Radio's All Things Considered program.

Wang played twice in Albuquerque in summer 2007,. Accessed August 28, 2008. and three concerts in Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City with its Symphony in November 2007.Program Notes, "Yuja Wang Plays Mendelssohn", found at . Accessed August 28, 2008.

On January 21, 2008, She played at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor , Michigan and, to standing ovations, returned to the stage repeatedly for a triple encore that included Gluck 's Mélodie from Orfeo (Wang's transcription, after Giovanni Sgambati ), Rondo Alla Turca|Turkish March by Mozart ( Volodos 's transcription), and Rimsky-Korsakov 's Flight of the Bumblebee ( Cziffra 's virtuosic arrangement).

On April 2, 2008, Wang played with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields in Boston Symphony Hall , on a concert originally scheduled to be conducted from the keyboard by Murray Perahia and she performed in the 2008 Verbier Festival to great acclaim.

2008 residency at SPAC

In the summer of 2008, Wang played two performances at Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC), for which she was introduced by SPAC President Marcia White .Peter Dobrin, "Shaping Up in Saratoga: The orchestra's three-week residency, Charles Dutoit at the helm, begins on a bright collaborative note." Philadelphia Inquirer , August 9, 2008, found at
. Accessed August 28, 2008.SPAC Schedules, found at and . Accessed August 28, 2008. Wang was called a "new pianist star", "a phenom", "a whiz", and "a sensation" after her concerto concerts at SPAC in August 2008.Geraldine Freedman, "Pianist Wang enjoys unpredictable schedule", The Daily Gazette , August 14, 2008, found at . Accessed August 28, 2008.Geraldine Freeman, "Yuja Wang, 21, SPAC's new pianist star, is a sensation", The Daily Gazette , August 23, 2008, p. D4.Geraldine Freedman, "Pianist phenom Wang wows ’em as soloist and in ensemble," The Daily Gazette , August 19, 2008, found at . See also . Accessed August 28, 2008.Judith White, "Popular pianist proves she can deliver," The Saratogian , August 20, 2008, found at . Accessed August 28, 2008.
In her first concert, with the Saratoga Chamber Orchestra, Wang "performed Liszt ’s prodigiously difficult" Piano Sonata (Liszt)|Sonata in B minor . A reviewer said that:

Another reviewer wrote that:

She also played Brahms' Horn Trio with the Philadelphia Orchestra concertmaster, David Kim , and Philadelphia's principal horn, Jennifer Montone, in which "Wang showed herself entirely capable of playing in ensemble."

For her second concert, she performed Prokofiev 's Piano Concerto No. 1 (Prokofiev)|Piano Concerto No. 1 at SPAC to spectacular reviews, in which it was noted that she "is probably not much older than Prokofiev when he wrote the work." One reviewer wrote:

Recording contract

In January 2009, Wang signed an exclusive recording contract for five discs with Deutsche Grammophon . In March, she made her debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. On April 15, 2009 Wang performed at the Youtube Symphony Orchestra event held in New York at Carnegie Hall . In May, she performed Sergei Prokofiev|Sergei Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2 (Prokofiev)|Piano Concerto number 2 with the San Francisco Symphony . In August, she played his Piano Concerto No. 3 (Prokofiev)|third Piano Concerto under Claudio Abbado in the Opening Concert of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra|Lucerne Festival , with live broadcast and telecast in the Swiss first national programm SF 1 . http://www.lucernefestival.ch/en/lucerne_festival_orchestra/programme_2009/ In June/July, she appeared, like the year before, at the Verbier Festival , and in November, she had her first solo concert in Zurich at the prestiguous Tonhalle Orchester Zürich|Tonhalle Zurich (her second visit after her famous European debut here in 2003, see above), with a program featuring Liszt, Schumann, and Chopin. http://www.nzz.ch/nachrichten/kultur/aktuell/yuja_wang_1.3196809.html

Personal life

Wang currently lives in New York City, but travels most of the time playing concerts around the world.

Discography

Wang has released four CDs with Deutsche Grammophon : Sonatas & Etudes in 2009; Transformation in 2010; Rachmaninov in 2011; and Fantasia in March 2012.

In addition, EuroArts has released a DVD on which she performs Sergei Prokofiev 's Piano Concerto No. 3 (Prokofiev)|Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major , with Abbado conducting.

Although there are reports that Wang released a debut CD in 1995, there is little information available about it.

Copyright Citations

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