Yuja Wang

More information:
www.YujaWang.com

 

 

 

 

 

Yuja Wang – A Biographical Timeline

“Yuja Wang plays a rare, frankly exquisite combination of feeling and delicacy . . . she has a dazzling way of lightening even the heaviest textures . . . Yuja Wang is already among the most brilliantly gifted of today’s pianists.”

Gramophone (London), July 2010

1987  Born in Beijing
1993  First piano lessons, leading to studies with Professors Ling Yuan and Zhou Guangren at Beijing’s Central Conservatory of Music
1996  Recital in Australia
1998  Recital in Germany
1999  Exchange student at the Morningside Music Bridge programme at Mount Royal College in Calgary and winner of its concerto competition
2001  Begins two years of study with Hung Kuan Chen and Tema Blackstone at Mount Royal College Conservatory. Receives the Special Jury Award at the first Japan Sendai International Music Competition, where she is the youngest competitor
2002  Becomes student of Gary Graffman at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia (graduation in 2008). This summer and the next, she works with John Perry at the Aspen Music Festival, where she wins the concerto competition in her first year. Featured performer in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s “Up and Coming” series
2003  Triumphant European concerto debut in Zurich performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto no. 4 with the Tonhalle Orchestra under David Zinman
2005  After her North American debut performing Beethoven’s Concerto no. 4 with the National Arts Centre Orchestra under Pinchas Zukerman in Ottawa (replacing Radu Lupu at one day’s notice), the Canadian press declares: “A star is born”. She has been invited back to the NAC every season since then
2006  Debuts with the New York Philharmonic (Liszt Concerto no. 1 under Lorin Maazel) and the symphony orchestras of Chicago and Japan’s NHK (Prokofiev Concerto no. 2 under Charles Dutoit), San Francisco (Ravel Concerto in G major under Michael Tilson Thomas) and Houston. First recital tour of Germany. Receives this year’s prestigious Gilmore Young Artist Award
2007  Boston Symphony Orchestra debut (deputizing for Martha Argerich) playing Tchaikovsky’s Concerto no. 1 under Dutoit. Appears in the UK and Netherlands with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic under Yuri Temirkanov. Returns to China to perform with the China Philharmonic and Guangzhou Symphony orchestras. Lisbon debut with the Gulbenkian Orchestra under Lawrence Foster (Tchaikovsky Concerto no. 1, Prokofiev Concerto no. 3). Replaces Yefim Bronfman at a day’s notice in Prokofiev’s Concerto no. 2 with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, resulting in immediate re-engagement
2008  Yuja Wang closes the St. Petersburg Winter Arts Festival. US tour with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and Marriner. Other concerts include the Baltimore Symphony (Yan Pascal Tortelier), New World Symphony (Tilson Thomas), Detroit Symphony and NHK Symphony orchestras (both under Dutoit) and the Orchestre national de Belgique (Walter Weller). Verbier and Saratoga festival debuts. Recitals in the US and Paris
2009  Signs an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon. Her first release on the Yellow Label features works by Chopin, Ligeti, Liszt and Scriabin (Grammy® nomination, 2010). Debut in Italy playing concertos by Prokofiev with the Orchestra Mozart under Claudio Abbado. Further engagements include concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony of Washington, Dallas Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, London Symphony orchestras and the Filarmonica della Scala. She makes her Carnegie Hall debut in October performing Prokofiev’s Concerto no. 2 with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Dutoit. In November she tours North America with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra (Rachmaninov Concerto no. 2). Numerous recitals in the US, Hong Kong, Beijing and throughout Europe. Festival appearances in Verbier, Lucerne, La Roque d’Anthéron, Bergamo, Bad Kissingen, Aspen and Santa Fe. Yuja Wang receives the Gramophone Award “Young Artist of the Year”
2010  This year’s engagements include a tour in the US playing Rachmaninov’s Concerto no. 2 and Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto with the Russian National Orchestra and in Israel performing Rachmaninov’s Concerto no. 3 and Mozart’s Concerto K. 466; concerts with the Royal Philharmonic (Dutoit), Mahler Chamber Orchestra (Claudio Abbado), New World Symphony and San Francisco Symphony (Tilson Thomas), Gulbenkian (Foster), Hong Kong Philharmonic (Muhai Tang), Filarmonica della Scala (Semyon Bychkov; at the Shanghai Expo), Pittsburgh Symphony (Manfred Honeck), Royal Concertgebouw (Daniele Gatti), Cincinnati Symphony (Carlos Kalmar), Orchestre de Paris (Juraj Valcuha) and Mariinsky (Gergiev); various chamber music appearances and recitals throughout Europe, the US and the Far East, including her recital debut at the Salzburg Mozarteum; festival appearances in Brescia and Bergamo (Michelangeli Festival), Schwetzingen, Bad Kissingen, Verbier, Montreux, International Chopin Festival in Poland, as well as Aspen and Santa Fe. Yuja Wang’s second Deutsche Grammophon album is released in May: Transformation – an integrated solo programme featuring Brahms, Ravel, Scarlatti and Stravinsky
2011  Her plans for this year include engagements (in concerto repertoire featuring Rachmaninov’s Concertos nos. 2 and 3 and “Paganini Rhapsody” as well as Prokofiev’s Concerto no. 3, Bartók’s Concerto no. 2 and Brahms’ Concerto no. 1) with the Berlin Staatskapelle, Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Nacional de España, Italian RAI Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, China Philharmonic, the Baltimore, Boston and San Francisco Symphony orchestras, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Arts Centre, Toronto Symphony Orchestra and São Paulo Symphony Orchestra; recitals at Carnegie Hall and in Denver, Ann Arbor, Fort Worth, Houston, Granville (Ohio), Purchase (New York), Montreal. She will also appear in various concerts throughout the US, Europe and the Far East with a programme featuring Rachmaninov, Schubert, Scriabin, Mussorgsky, Mendelssohn and Saint-Saëns. Release: Rachmaninov’s Second Concerto and “Paganini Rhapsody” with Claudio Abbado and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra