Read on for our guide to the acclaimed Chinese pianist Yuja Wang, famed for her onstage charisma and virtuosic interpretations of some of the great 19th- and 20th-century piano concertos.
Who is Yuja Wang?
Yuja Wang is an acclaimed Chinese classical pianist. Perhaps best known for her fearless, theatrical style and dazzling interpretations of 20th-century piano works by the likes of Prokofiev, Rachmaninov and Scriabin, Wang has performed all around the world and has made many bestselling albums. Her 2024 release The Vienna Recital received a glowing review in our August 2024 issue.
How old is Yuja Wang?
Wang was born on 10 February, 1987.
Where was she born?
Yuja Wang was born in Beijing, China.
What did her parents do?
Wang comes from a musical family. Her father, Wang Jianguo, is a percussionist, while her mother Zhai Jieming is a dancer.
When did Yuja Wang start learning the piano?
She began studying piano at the age of six. She went on to study at Beijing's Central Conservatory of Music and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.
At what age did Yuja Wang become famous?
Wang was performing concerts around the world by the age of 21. However, her road to fame began quite a time before that. She was just 11 when she took third prize in Germany's Ettlingen International Competition for Young Pianists in 1998. The next few years were fruitful: in 2001, Wang took part in the very first Sendai International Music Competition in Sendai, Japan, winning third prize in the piano section. She also took the special jury prize, awarded to the most distinguished finalist aged 20 or under.
Her earliest releases included, in 2009, a performance of Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3, accompanied by the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and their conductor, the great Claudio Abbado.
Where does Yuja Wang live?
Yuja Wang lives in New York City.
Who were Yuja Wang's main influences?
In a 2009 interview with BBC Music Magazine writer Rebecca Franks, Yuja revealed:
'Vladimir Horowitz was a very big influence on me. I love listening to him and never get tired of it. Also I love Alfred Cortot and Rachmaninov.
- We named both Horowitz and Cortot in our list of the greatest pianists of all time
'Carlos Kleiber the conductor [is another], and I love Leonard Bernstein. When I moved to America when I was 14 I read the Young People's Concerts. That book was a big influence on my way of looking at Western music. I’d been learning in China and there's a different way of analysing music.
'I think before I thought more about how I felt the piano physically and emotionally; with him it’s more how to analayse music. He looks at music from a very musical point of view. In China we're very imaginative – we invent stories or colours or poems. He was talking about rhythm, contrapuntal lines and harmony, it was very music oriented. You have to have a good balance of both.
'When I was 14-15 I got to know about music theory that way – it was harmony and structure that were important. But if you have just that and no subjective feelings it won't be human.'
Yuja Wang: five great recordings
Fantasia
Works by Rachmaninov; Scarlatti; Gluck; Albéniz; Saint-Saëns/Liszt/Horowitz; Strauss/Cziffra; Chopin DG 479 0052
From our review: 'Wang's aim [with these miniatures] is to ‘create a vignette of a memory, or a hope… like a haiku’. She has succeeded brilliantly. The lightness and flexibility of her touch takes the breath away, and her sound is at every moment transparently controlled, each piece displaying insight and affection.'
The Berlin Recital
Works by Ligeti, Prokofiev, Rachmaninov & Scriabin DG 483 6280
From our review: 'highlights the poetry of a pianist we’ve more often seen in extrovert showcases like Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto. She knows how to give just enough space to a phrase while never losing sight of parallel lines.'
John Adams: Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes? etc
Yuja Wang (piano); LA Phil/Gustavo Dudamel DG 483 8289
From our review: 'It’s the pianist as perfectly as her infamous bodycon dresses. Her flawless technique is ideally suited to the frequent high-octane, galloping passages…Packed full of ear-worms (the simple melody and its improvisatory-like variations in the third section are devastatingly catchy), this work lives up to its title.'
Read more about US composer John Adams, who also makes an appearance in our article on the best American composers of all time
Pic: Julia Wesely
Chopin - Franck - Piazzolla
with Gautier Capuçon (cello) Erato 9029539226
From our review: 'Despite his uniquely pianistic outlook, Chopin’s blending of a string instrument with piano [in his Cello Sonata] is unsurpassed in the repertoire, and the duo make the most of it.'
Read more about composers César Franck and Astor Piazzolla
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 3 / Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 2
Simón Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela / Gustavo Dudamel DG
Yuja Wang excels here in two big concertos from 20th-century Russian masters: Sergey Rachmaninov and Sergey Prokofiev.
Electrifying performances of two big, dramatic and technically challenging Russian piano concertos, with fine support from Gustavo Dudamel and his Venezuelan band.
Yuja has great form with Rachmaninov: another of her recordings crops up in our list of the best recordings of the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.
- Rachmaninov: seven of the best works
- We named Prokofiev one of the best ballet composers of all time
