Classical Music Today
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact

Musical America names Artist of the Year

10/18/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Musical America has named Yuja Wang as it's Artist of the Year.

(from a press release) (Photo by David Bazemore)


Her career soars above that of any pianist before the public today. She represents a new breed--the complete, thoroughly modern package. Wearing stunning gowns chosen specifically to match the repertoire she is playing, she has cultivated a persona of visual beauty as well as musical brilliance. Her exceptional presence on stage and a natural affinity for music from Mozart to Gershwin have compelled critics to describe her performances as "charismatic," "breathtaking," and "flawless."

Born into a musical family in Beijing, Yuja Wang could read scores at age 5 and received her first piano lessons the next year. Within two years her teacher advised her parents that she belonged in a conservatory, and soon she entered Beijing's Central Conservatory of Music. At age 12 she became the youngest student ever accepted at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Canada, and three years later she began studies at Curtis Institute with the distinguished American pianist Gary Graffman, who would become her strongest mentor. She would also study with Leon Fleisher. She graduated in 2008.

Over the years, Wang has garnered numerous awards and accolades, from prizes at the Sendai International Music Competition and the Aspen Music Festival's concerto competition to being named a Gilmore Young Artist. Her international breakthrough came in March 2007 when she replaced Martha Argerich on short notice as soloist in Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In 2011 she made her Carnegie Hall recital debut in New York, and has appeared in that venue every season since. 

For many years she delighted her sold-out audiences with dazzling virtuoso works, often of the Russian school, and always a handful of encores. But her May 2016 recitals in Los Angeles and at Carnegie, followed by an extensive European summer tour, represented a new stage of Yuja Wang's development. The printed program was all-German works: the first two of Brahms's Op. 10 Ballades, Schumann's Kreisleriana, and Beethoven's "Hammerklavier" Piano Sonata, Op. 106.

Her exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon has produced seven discs in repertoire ranging from Brahms, Scriabin, and Rachmaninoff to Ravel, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, and Ligeti. This season, the 29-year-old pianist's schedule includes an Asian tour with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony, a Bartók concerto cycle with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, performances of Ravel's Concerto in G with Gianandrea Noseda and the London Symphony in London and New York's Lincoln Center, as well as concerts and recitals with baritone Matthias Goerne and violinist Leonidas Kavakos. Wang will also undertake a major solo European recital tour in March and April, complete with concerts in Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris, Vienna, London, and many other cities.




0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    I'm a classical radio announcer, blogger, and musician.

    Archives

    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photo used under Creative Commons from katsrcool (Kool Cats Photography) 1,000,000 + View