Yuja Wang facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

The native form of this personal name is Wang Yujia. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.

In this Chinese name, the family name is Wang.

Quick facts for kids

Yuja Wang

Wang performing at Carnegie Hall in 2017

Background information

Native name

王羽佳

Born

February 10, 1987 (age 38)
Beijing, China

Genres

Classical

Occupation(s)

Pianist

Instruments

Piano

Years active

1998–present

Labels

Deutsche Grammophon

Chinese name

Traditional Chinese

王羽佳

Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Wáng Yǔjiā

Yuja Wang (Chinese: 王羽佳; pinyin: Wáng Yǔjiā; born February 10, 1987) is a Chinese pianist. Born in Beijing, she began learning 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.

By age 21, she was already an internationally recognized concert pianist and signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon. She has since established herself as one of the leading artists of her generation. Wang currently lives in New York.

Early life and education
Career
Endorsements
Discography
World premieres
Awards
Movie scores
See also

Early life and education

Wang comes from an artistic family. Her mother, Zhai Jieming, is a dancer and her father, Wang Jianguo, is a percussionist. Both live in Beijing.

Wang began learning the piano at age six. At age seven, she began studies at Beijing's Central Conservatory of Music. At age eleven, Wang entered the Morningside Music Bridge International Music Festival (at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta) as the festival's youngest student.

At the age of fifteen, 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 Wang's technique impressed him during her audition, but "it was the intelligence and good taste" of her interpretations that distinguished her.

Career

Early career

In 1998, at the age of eleven, Wang received third prize in the Ettlingen International Competition for Young Pianists in Germany. Three years later, she won the third prize and the special jury prize (awarded to an outstanding finalist less than 20 years of age, with prize money of 500,000 Japanese yen) at the first Sendai International Music Competition in Sendai, Japan.

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

In 2003, Wang made her European debut with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Switzerland, playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 under the baton of David Zinman. She made her North American debut in Ottawa in the 2005–2006 season, replacing Radu Lupu performing that Beethoven concerto with Pinchas Zukerman conducting.

On September 11, 2005, Wang was named a 2006 biennial Gilmore Young Artist Award winner, given to the most promising pianists age 22 and younger. As part of the award, she received $15,000, appeared at Gilmore Festival concerts, and had a new piano work commissioned for her.

In 2006, Wang made her New York Philharmonic debut at the Bravo! Vail Music Festival. The following season, she performed with the orchestra under Lorin Maazel during a tour of Japan and Korea by the Philharmonic.

In March 2007, Wang's breakthrough came when she replaced Martha Argerich in concerts held in Boston. Argerich had cancelled her appearances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra on four subscription concerts from March 8 to 13. Wang performed Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 with Charles Dutoit conducting.

After 2007

Wang performing with the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg in 2021

In 2008, Wang toured the U.S. with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields led by Sir Neville Marriner. In 2009, she performed as a soloist with the YouTube Symphony Orchestra, led by Michael Tilson Thomas at Carnegie Hall. 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, 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. Her performance of Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee" is featured on the Verbier Festival highlights DVD from 2008.

In 2012, Wang toured with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Zubin Mehta in Israel and the U.S., with a performance at Carnegie Hall in New York in September.

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

In February 2013, Wang performed and recorded Prokofiev's Concerto No. 2 and Rachmaninoff's Concerto No. 3 with Conductor Gustavo Dudamel and the Venezuelan Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar. Also in 2013, Wang's recital tour of Japan culminated with her recital debut at Tokyo's Suntory Hall.

Wang made her Berlin Philharmonic debut in May 2015, performing Sergei Prokofiev's 2nd Piano Concerto with Conductor Paavo Järvi. The performance was broadcast live through the orchestra's Digital Concert Hall.

In a departure from her previously predominantly Russian repertoire, Wang played Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 9, the Jeunehomme, in February 2016 at David Geffen Hall in New York on four successive nights with Charles Dutoit conducting, then, in her debut with the Vienna Philharmonic under Valery Gergiev in Munich and Paris.

In March 2016, Wang played for three nights in Messiaen's Turangalîla-Symphonie with Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting. In a recital at Carnegie Hall in May 2016, she played Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 29, the Hammerklavier, and two Brahms Ballades and Robert Schumann's Kreisleriana.

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.

In 2019, Wang paid tribute to Kennedy Center Honoree Michael Tilson Thomas with a rendition of "You Come Here Often?"

On January 28, 2023, 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 Nézet-Séguin likened to climbing Mount Everest. An audience member collapsed during the last movement of the Piano Concerto No. 2, causing the concert to be paused while they received medical attention. The movement was restarted 20 minutes later. After completing the final concerto, Wang played “Dance of the Blessed Spirits” from Christoph Willibald Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice as an encore.

Regular collaborators

Wang in 2021

Wang has performed with all the major orchestras in the U.S., 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, 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.

Endorsements

Wang is a brand ambassador for Rolex, Rimowa and La Mer. Since 2011, she has been a Steinway & Sons artist.

In 2019, Wang was featured in Rimowa's campaign “Never Still”, alongside LeBron James and Kim Jones.

Discography

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

Although there are reports Wang released a debut CD in 1995, there is little information available about it.

2009: Sonatas & Etudes
2009: Mendelssohn Piano Concerto No. 1 with Verbier Festival Orchestra conducted by Kurt Masur – live at Verbier Festival, Switzerland
2009: Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3 with Lucerne Festival Orchestra conducted by Claudio Abbado – live at Lucerne Festival, Switzerland
2010: Transformation
2010: Schubert, Schumann, Scriabin and Prokofiev – live at Verbier Festival, Switzerland
2011: Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 2 & Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with Mahler Chamber Orchestra conducted by Claudio Abbado – live in Ferrara, Italy
2011: Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 2 with Verbier Festival Orchestra conducted by Yuri Temirkanov – live at Verbier Festival, Switzerland
2012: Fantasia
2014: Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 3 & Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 2 with Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar de Venezuela conducted by Gustavo Dudamel – live in Caracas, Venezuela
2014: Brahms: The Violin Sonatas with Leonidas Kavakos
2015: Maurice Ravel Complete Orchestral Works with Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich conducted by Lionel Bringuier
2017: The Asia Tour with Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Sir Simon Rattle – live in Wuhan, China
2018: The Berlin Recital – live from Berlin, Germany
2018: The Peace Concert Versailles with Wiener Philharmoniker conducted by Franz Welser-Möst – live at Palace of Versailles, France
2019: Blue Hour with Andreas Ottensamer
2019: Sommernachtskonzert: Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue with Wiener Philharmoniker conducted by Gustavo Dudamel – live at Schönbrunn Palace, Austria
2019: Franck, Chopin with Gautier Capuçon
2020: Adams, Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes? with Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Gustavo Dudamel
2020: Rachmaninov Cello Sonata, Op. 19 with Lynn Harrell – live at Verbier Festival 2008
2023: The American Project featuring You Come Here Often? by Michael Tilson Thomas and Piano Concerto by Teddy Abrams
2023: The Verbier Festival Debut Recital 2008 – live at Verbier Festival 2008
2023: Rachmaninoff: The Piano Concertos & Paganini Rhapsody; with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic
2024: The Vienna Recital – live from Vienna, Austria

World premieres

Works written for and premiered by Wang include the following:

2009: Artless Pages (Seven Impromptus for Piano) by Rodion Shchedrin: Église de Verbier in Verbier, Switzerland (1 August 2009)
2009: Piano Concerto by Jennifer Higdon: National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andrew Litton, Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., United States (3 December 2009)
2015: You Come Here Often? for solo piano by Michael Tilson Thomas: Barbican Centre in London, United Kingdom (15 March 2015)
2015: Farewell My Concubine for Peking Opera Soprano and Piano by Tan Dun: Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra conducted by Long Yu, Xinghai Concert Hall in Guangzhou, China (31 July 2015)
2019: Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes? by John Adams: Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, USA (7 March 2019)
2022: Piano Concerto by Teddy Abrams: Louisville Orchestra conducted by Teddy Abrams, Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts in Louisville, USA (7 January 2022)
2022: Piano Concerto No. 3 by Magnus Lindberg: San Francisco Symphony conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, USA (13 October 2022)

Other pieces that received world premieres with Wang as soloist include the following:

2015: The Food of Love by Carlo Galante: Filarmonica della Scala conducted by Daniele Rustioni, La Scala in Milan, Italy (23 February 2015)
2016: Cello Sonata by Evgeny Kissin: with cellist Gautier Capuçon, Salle des Combins in Verbier, Switzerland (25 July 2016)

Awards

2006: Gilmore - Young Artist Award
2009: Gramophone - Young Artist of the Year
2009, 2011, 2018, 2019: Grammy Award - nominee
2010: Avery Fisher Career Grant
2011: Echo Klassik Awards - Young Artist of the Year
2017: Musical America - Artist of the Year
2019: Gramophone - Instrumental Award for The Berlin Recital
2021: Opus Klassik - for recording of John Adams: Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes?
2023: Grammy Award - The American Project with Teddy Abrams and the Louisville Orchestra
2023: Pianote - Classical Pianist of the Year

Movie scores

2013: Summer in February
2023: The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes