Yuja Wang

Yuja Wang ([ˈjuːd͡ʒɑ ˈwɑŋ]; Chinese 王羽佳, pinyin Wáng Yǔjiā; born 10 February 1987 in Beijing, People's Republic of China) is a Chinese pianist who lives in the United States.

Live

Wang grew up in Beijing as the daughter of a dancer and a percussionist. She received her first piano lessons at the age of six and initially studied at the Beijing Conservatory of Music. At the age of 14, she continued her studies at Mount Royal College in Calgary, Canada, and at 15, she transferred to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia to continue her studies with Gary Graffman. Today she lives in New York.

Appearances

After winning her first prizes in 2001, her debut in Europe took place in 2003. In January 2009 Wang signed a contract with Deutsche Grammophon and performed Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3 at the opening concert of the Lucerne Festival together with Claudio Abbado and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra.

From the 2009/10 to 2011/12 season, Yuja Wang was an artist in the Junge Wilde series at the Konzerthaus Dortmund. In 2011, she performed Rachmaninoff's Concerto No. 2 with conductor Yuri Temirkanov at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland and Concerto No. 3 with conductor Xian Zhang and the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden in the summer of 2012.

In 2016 she performed together with Martin Grubinger in Beijing, Vienna, Munich, Zurich and Tel Aviv. In 2019 she performed together with violinist Leonidas Kavakos at the Prinzregententheater in Munich, the Konzerthaus in Vienna and Carnegie Hall New York. On 20 June 2019 she performed as a star guest at the Summer Night Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel and interpreted George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue as a soloist.