Category Archives: Press

Yuja Wang, Royal Festival Hall, review: Simply extraordinary

4 months ago |
The i A recital by the Chinese pianist Yuja Wang has been advertised by the Southbank Centre with the aid of a quote from the Chicago Classical Review trumpeting that she is ‘the undisputed reigning rock star of classical music’.…

Yuja Wang review – from delicate finesse to fierce intensity

4 months ago |
The Guardian Yuja Wang’s latest recital at the Festival Hall was a dazzling, at times beguiling affair, carefully structured and executed with her customary flamboyance, glamour and elegance. Chopin’s four Ballades formed the second half of the programme, but before…

The Fashionista Modernism of Yuja Wang

4 months ago |
The New Yorker It has never been just about the music. The notion that performers should be faceless butlers of genius, impersonally conveying sublime messages in sound, has no basis in tradition. The bonkers antics of virtuoso pianists in the…

New York Classical Review Rachmaninoff: Piano Concertos Nos. 1-4 and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Yuja Wang with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin . How long can the Chinese pianist go on topping herself with one-of-a-kind musical events?  This year it was performing all of Rachmaninoff’s music for piano and orchestra—four concertos and the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini—in one January afternoon (and evening) at Carnegie Hall. The marvel was not just Wang’s getting through it, but the vitality and insight she brought to every bar of the music. Any of these five …

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Yuja Wang: ‘Vakantie? Ik heb het weleens geprobeerd.’

1 year ago |
Preludium Alsof het sneakers zijn, zo makkelijk loopt ze op stiletto’s over het podium, en met die onwaarschijnlijk hoge pumps bedient ze de pedalen. Yuja Wang speelt met het Concertgebouworkest de twee pianoconcerten van Ravel – fysiek een opgave, maar…

Die Klavier-Rihanna

1 year ago |
NZZ Magazin Yuja Wang ist ein Phänomen. Sie spielt alle Klavierkonzerte von Rachmaninoff am Stück, kennt Tolstoi und Kant. Nur über ihre furchterregend hohen Schuhe mag die Pianistin im Interview nicht reden. In Zahlen ausgedrückt heisst das: hundert Konzerte pro…

September 2023 issue of Gramophone, featuring Yuja Wang

1 year ago |
Yuja Wang: Rachmaninov from the remarkable piano star Our September 2023 issue’s cover artist is one of the most prominent stars of the piano, Yuja Wang, whose astonishing pianism and musicianship have long been dazzling the musical world. Tim Parry catches…

“Wang debuted like a shot of espresso. She donned a sizzling bedazzled red romper and glittering Louboutin stilettos. Style and spectacle are basically Wang’s calling cards, and her outfit radiated fearlessness and ferocity. Rachmaninoff’s third piano concerto, like all concertos, unfolds in three parts. “Allegro ma non tanto,“ the first section, begins deceptively straightforward as the pianist introduces a simple diatonic melody. As the section and concerto progress, however, the …

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“Big band orchestral writing jostles with Latin American, gospel, Hollywood-like themes and several cadenzas in the classical style, which show off Wang’s glittering finger-work. Nothing lasts long and the concerto is held together by its energy. [Abrams’s Piano Concerto] gets a flamboyant performance from Wang and Abrams, who conducts the Louisville Orchestra, enough to make a glitzy, if fleeting impact in a live concert.” Financial Times “The piano demigod’s forthcoming album (releasing …

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“The theme acts as a spirit, carrying within the piece in various form through harshness from the brass and the brightness of the upper strings. The beginning is of a slow nature within the orchestra coupled with a lightness in the piano. This doesn’t last long as it seamlessly builds up with intensity. In that moment, the composer is truly in control of us until finally, a release that gives …

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