29 Facts About Yuja Wang

Yuja Wang's mother is a dancer and her father is a percussionist.

At age eleven, Wang entered the Morningside Music Bridge International Music Festival as the festival's youngest student.

At the age of fifteen, Yuja Wang entered the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she studied for five years with Gary Graffman and graduated in 2008.

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.

In 1998, at the age of eleven, Yuja Wang received third prize in the Ettlingen International Competition for Young Pianists in Germany.

In 2002, Yuja Wang won the concerto competition at the Aspen Music Festival.

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.

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.

In March 2007, Yuja Wang's breakthrough came when she replaced Martha Argerich in concerts held in Boston.

Yuja Wang performed Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No 1 with Charles Dutoit conducting.

In 2008, Yuja Wang toured the US with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields led by Sir Neville Marriner.

Yuja Wang performed with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra conducted by Claudio Abbado in Luzern and Beijing, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Spain and in London, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.

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.

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.

Yuja Wang toured Asia in November 2012 with the San Francisco Symphony and its conductor Michael Tilson Thomas.

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.

Yuja Wang made her Berlin Philharmonic debut in May 2015, performing Sergei Prokofiev's 2nd Piano Concerto with Conductor Paavo Jarvi.

In March 2016, Yuja Wang played for three nights in Messiaen's Turangalila-Symphonie with Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting.

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.

On January 28,2023, Yuja Wang performed all four Rachmaninoff piano concertos and his Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini in a single concert with the Philadelphia Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, a feat conductor Yannick Nezet-Seguin likened to climbing Mount Everest.

Yuja Wang has performed with all the major orchestras in the US, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, and the National Symphony Orchestra.

Internationally, Yuja Wang has performed with the Berlin Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Staatskapelle Berlin, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, London Philharmonic, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic, NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, and the China Philharmonic, among others.

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.

Yuja Wang reconciled these conflicting elements through a performance of impressive clarity and detail.

Yuja Wang kept you on edge during the elusive transition to the gnarly, dense fugue, which she then dispatched with unfathomable dexterity.

Yuja Wang has received attention for her eye-catching outfits and glamorous stage presence as well as for her piano playing.

Yuja Wang is a brand ambassador for Rolex, Rimowa, Estee Lauder, La Mer, and Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group.

In January 2009, Yuja Wang signed a recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon.

Works written for and premiered by Yuja Wang include the following:.