In late August and early September, Yuja Wang joins the Vienna Philharmonic for a series of enthralling performances in Salzburg, Hamburg and Lucerne under the baton of famed Finnish conductor, Esa-Pekka Salonen.
On August 26 and 28, Ms. Wang returns to the Salzburg Festival in two beautifully programmed concerts featuring Richard Wagner’s Prelude and Isolde’s Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde, as well as Olivier Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie for large orchestra, piano and ondes Martenot. The latter work, which was premiered in 1949 by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Leonard Bernstein, is a massive ten-movement symphony which was also inspired by the myth of Tristan and Isolde and described by the composer as “a love song, a hymn to joy; love that is fatal, irresistible, transcending everything, suppressing everything outside”. Along with Ms. Wang and the Vienna Philharmonic, Cécile Lartigau’s expertise with the early electronic instrument, the ondes Martenot, will be on display here.
Together with Maestro Salonen and Ms. Lartigau, Ms. Wang will then travel to perform Messiaen’s sole symphony with the orchestra in Hamburg on September 5 and in Lucerne as part of the Lucerne Festival on September 6.
Photo: Marco Borrelli / Salzburger Festspiele