Category Archives: Press

Shostakovich with Yuja Wang and the BSO

1 year ago |
WCRB Andris Nelsons leads the BSO in Haydn’s 100th Symphony, and electrifying soloist Yuja Wang takes the stage at Symphony Hall for not one, but both of Shostakovich’s piano concertos. Andris Nelsons, conductor Yuja Wang, piano Thomas Rolfs, trumpet Julia ADOLPHE Makeshift Castle…

“Instinktiv überzeugen sie von der Auffassung der Stücke, verbunden durch ein fast telepathisches Band und kommunizieren in solcher Eintracht, als hätten sie die gleichen Wurzeln… Das international-asiatische Trio versäumte keine Gelegenheit alle Merkmale von Brahms’ Identität einzufangen. Es fand zu einem nachdenklich-entrückten Gespräch zueinander. Man sollte es ruhig und gesammelt anhören.” Volksblatt

“The centrepiece of Klaus Mäkelä’s extraordinary Prom with the Oslo Philharmonic was a performance of Liszt’s First Piano Concerto with Yuja Wang as soloist: a breathtaking account of the work, virtuosic on every level, both pianistic and orchestral. Since its first performance in 1855 it has been fashionable to decry the piece as overly flamboyant, though Wang and Mäkelä revealed just how much depth there is to it, and what …

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“Denn sie ist einerseits ein echtes Unterhaltungstalent, reißt das Publikum mit, auch dann, wenn es die Musik oder musikalische Darbietung für sich genommen nicht vermögen. Wenn die “Ungarische Melodie” von Franz Schubert ein wenig im Metrum verrutscht und sehr zaghaft kommt, wenn die Leidenschaft für das sogenannte “Zigeuner-Moll”, einer Variante der Moll-Tonleiter, gänzlich fehlt. Aber, und das zeichnet Wang dann doch als großartige Pianistin aus, sie kann auch mit Stücken …

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“Liszt’s E-flat Major Piano Concerto has been one of Yuja Wang’s warhorses for some time. Liszt linked the three movements essentially into a single large arc, with musical ideas returning at different tempos and levels of complexity. It is a work that constantly moves between thunderous dynamics and gentle lyricism, between rapid flowing fingerwork and percussive chords, between focus on the soloist and colors in the orchestra. It was once …

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SFCM: Yuja Wang on Practicing, Performing, and Sushi

2 years ago |
SFCM Pianist Yuja Wang visited SFCM for a master class in April. Get to know the critically acclaimed musician and her advice for young artists. Known for her charismatic artistry and captivating stage presence, Yuja Wang is one of the…

“Etat de grâce également pour Yuja Wang, chez elle dans les passages les plus virtuoses du Premier Concerto pour piano de Rachmaninov, œuvre de jeunesse que le compositeur révisa des années plus tard, à l’aune des triomphes obtenus par le Deuxième et le Troisième. Aussi flamboyant qu’impeccablement tenu, son jeu, qui n’oublie jamais le phrasé ni la ligne mélodique, trouve un partenaire idéal en Klaus Mäkelä, soucieux d’offrir un accompagnement anguleux …

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“There’s nothing Wang can’t do at the piano keyboard, but Liszt’s writing seemed to bring out some of her most astonishing skills. When she tore into the big opening theme that runs through the entire concerto like a fixation, she did it with a blend of power and subtlety that seemed almost paradoxical — how does she make this attack so big-boned and yet so soft-edged, without any hint of …

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Leo Weekly: Two Of Classical Music’s Brightest Young Stars, Teddy Abrams And Pianist Yuja Wang, Reunite For Louisville Orchestra Performance

2 years ago |
Leo Weekly Pianist Yuja Wang appears with the Louisville Orchestra in concerts Friday and Saturday in Whitney Hall to premiere a new “Piano Concerto” composed by Teddy Abrams. It’s the 14th composition Abrams has created for the orchestra in his…

The Philadelphia Orchestra Opens Carnegie Hall “On paper, the concert with which Carnegie Hall returned to live performances after being closed for 572 days looked simply crowd-pleasing, as befits a fund-raising gala. Nézet-Séguin — leading the Philadelphia Orchestra, which he also directs — included Bernstein’s festive “Candide” overture and Beethoven’s omnipresent Fifth Symphony. Yet the program opened with Valerie Coleman’s “Seven O’Clock Shout,” written during the pandemic as a tribute …

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