Yuja Wang was born in Beijing, began studying piano there at age six, and went on to study at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.
26 Facts About Yuja Wang
2.
Yuja Wang's mother, Zhai Jieming, is a dancer and her father, Wang Jianguo, is a percussionist.
3.
At 11, Yuja Wang entered the Morningside Music Bridge International Music Festival as the festival's youngest student.
4.
At age 15, Yuja Wang entered the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she studied for five years with Gary Graffman and graduated in 2008.
5.
Graffman said that Yuja Wang's technique impressed him during her audition, but "it was the intelligence and good taste" of her interpretations that distinguished her.
6.
In 1998, Yuja Wang won third prize in the Ettlingen International Competition for Young Pianists in Ettlingen, Germany.
7.
In 2002, Yuja Wang won the Aspen Music Festival concerto competition.
8.
In 2003, Yuja Wang made her European debut with the Tonhalle Orchester Zurich, Switzerland, playing Beethoven's Piano Concerto No 4 under the baton of David Zinman.
9.
On September 11,2005, Yuja Wang was named a 2006 biennial Gilmore Young Artist Award winner, given to the most promising pianists age 22 and younger.
10.
In March 2007, Yuja Wang's breakthrough came when she replaced Martha Argerich in concerts held in Boston.
11.
Yuja Wang performed Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No 1 with Charles Dutoit conducting.
12.
In 2008, Yuja Wang toured the US with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields led by Sir Neville Marriner.
13.
Yuja Wang performed with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra conducted by Claudio Abbado in Beijing, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Spain and in London, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.
14.
In 2009, Yuja Wang performed and recorded Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto in G Minor with Kurt Masur at the Verbier Festival, accompanied by Kirill Troussov, David Aaron Carpenter, Maxim Rysanov, Sol Gabetta, and Leigh Mesh.
15.
In 2012, Yuja Wang toured with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Zubin Mehta in Israel and the US, with a performance at Carnegie Hall in New York in September.
16.
Yuja Wang toured Asia in November 2012 with the San Francisco Symphony and its conductor Michael Tilson Thomas.
17.
In February 2013, Yuja Wang performed and recorded Prokofiev's Concerto No 2 and Rachmaninoff's Concerto No 3 with Conductor Gustavo Dudamel and the Venezuelan Orquesta Sinfonica Simon Bolivar.
18.
Yuja Wang made her Berlin Philharmonic debut in May 2015, performing Sergei Prokofiev's 2nd Piano Concerto with Conductor Paavo Jarvi.
19.
In March 2016, Yuja Wang played for three nights in Messiaen's Turangalila-Symphonie with Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting.
20.
Yuja Wang performed with the National Youth Orchestra of China for its Carnegie Hall premiere on July 22,2017, with conductor Ludovic Morlot of the Seattle Symphony, performing Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No 1 in B-Flat Minor.
21.
Works written for and premiered by Yuja Wang include the following:.
22.
In January 2009, Yuja Wang signed a recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon.
23.
Yuja Wang played this Chopinesque music, all rippling left-hand figures, and dreamy melodic lines, with a delicacy, poetic grace, and attention to inner musical details that commanded respect.
24.
Yuja Wang reconciled these conflicting elements through a performance of impressive clarity and detail.
25.
Yuja Wang kept you on edge during the elusive transition to the gnarly, dense fugue, which she then dispatched with unfathomable dexterity.
26.
Yuja Wang has received attention for her eye-catching outfits and glamorous stage presence as well as for her piano playing.