Biography of Yuja Wang

About the Artist

Twenty-one year old Chinese pianist Yuja Wang is recognized for playing that combines the fearless imagination of youth with the discipline and precision of a mature artist. Yuja's command of the piano has been described as astounding and superhuman, and she has been praised for her authority over the most complex technical demands of the repertoire, the depth of her musical insight, as well as her fresh interpretations and graceful, charismatic stage presence.

Yuja has already performed with many of the world's leading orchestras including the Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Houston, New World, and San Francisco symphonies and the Philadelphia Orchestra in the U.S., and abroad with the Tonhalle Orchestra, China and Nagoya philharmonics and the NHK Symphony. In 2006, Yuja made her New York Philharmonic debut at the Bravo! Vail Music Festival and performed with the orchestra the following season under Lorin Maazel during the Philharmonic's Japan/Korea visit. In the spring of 2008, she toured the U.S. with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields led by Sir Neville Marriner. Yuja has given recitals in major cities throughout North America and abroad, makes regular appearances at festivals, and is a dedicated performer of chamber music.

During the 2008-09 season, Yuja debuts with four U.S orchestras; the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra and the Pittsburgh and Dallas symphonies; and abroad with the London Symphony and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. She will make her recital debut at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London and her 92nd Street Y chamber music debut in New York, performing with the Zukerman Chamber Players. She will also perform with the San Francisco, New World, Houston and Detroit symphonies, the NHK Symphony in Japan and Tonhalle Orchestra in Switzerland. She will give recitals in Washington DC, Seattle, Paris, Prague and Munich, among other cities worldwide, and will return to the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Verbier Festival, and perform with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Vail Valley Music Festival in the summer of 2009.

Born in Beijing, Yuja began studying piano at age six, and then at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. After attending three Morningside Music summer programs at Calgary's Mount Royal College from 1991-2001, she moved to Canada to study at the Mount Royal College Conservatory. Yuja moved to the U.S. at 15 to study with Gary Graffman at The Curtis Institute of Music, where she graduated in 2008. In 2006 Yuja received the Gilmore Young Artist Award.