Yuja Wang: 5 must watch performances

Reviews don’t come more emphatic than that. Those were the words of the San Francisco Chronicle’s Joshua Kosman after watching Yuja Wang perform back in 2012, and in the decade since the pianist has continued to wow audiences and critics wherever she has performed.

Born in Beijing to an artistic family – her mother was a dancer, her father a percussionist – Wang began studying the piano at the age of six. A year later she began studying at Beijing’s Central Conservatory of Music, and by the age of 11 her pianism was already earning her international prizes, as she won third prize in the Ettlingen International Competition for Young Pianists in Germany.

After leaving China aged 14, Wang went on to study at Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music under Gary Graffman, and she received her international breakthrough at the age of 20, when in 2007 she replaced Martha Argerich as soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. From then on she hasn’t looked back, with highly acclaimed performances the world over, joining many of the world’s leading orchestras on the most prestigious stages.

If you’re new to Yuja Wang, and somehow her captivating stage presence has thus far passed you by, we’ve put together this quick quintuplet of introductory performances. After all, why read our words on Wang when you can watch and hear her play. 

Chopin: Ballade No. 1

Let us start with a glimpse of the young Yuja Wang, age 19, a year before that major breakthrough with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. This recording is from Wang’s 2006 graduation recital at the Curtis Institute of Music, and whilst the stage presence she commands today isn’t yet on show, the remarkable delicacy and dexterity of her piano playing certainly is.

Strauss II: Tritsch-Tratsch Polka

One of the great traits of Yuja Wang is that she absolutely fully commits to an encore; giving audiences not only something different but also something memorable. Still only 23, and having already greatly impressed upon the audience of the 2010 Verbier Festival, Wang returned to the stage and without so much as a pause for breath launched into this remarkable performance of Johan Strauss II’s Tritsch-Tratsch Polka. On the Classic FM website there is an article titled ‘Yuja Wang is actually superhuman and this clip proves it’… this is that clip, and it’s hard to disagree.

Horowitz: Carmen Variations

These days Wang resides in New York, so this 2017 Carnegie Hall concert was very much something of a ‘home gig’ for the pianist. Having just finished one encore performance to rapturous applause, Wang pauses for a moment, smiles at having decided what to play, and then pauses again having apparently forgotten how to begin. But once she does begin, she flies, her hands becoming a genuine blur as she approaches the piece’s end.

Prokofiev: Toccata

Yes, another encore performance, but their brevity means we can all enjoy watching more and more of them, and also it’s clear that Wang really uses them as a means to show off her remarkable talents. This comes from the 2018 Lucerne Festival, where Wang had performed Prokofiev’s Piano concerto No. 3 with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. For the encore, the orchestra were just another set of stunned spectators as Wang returned to the stage to give a blistering performance of Prokofiev’s Toccata. A four minute rendition of this piece is considered remarkably quick… Wang finishes her epic recital in three and three quarter minutes.

Liszt: First Piano Concerto in E flat

For our fifth and final must-watch Yuja Wang piece.something a bit longer, and also something a bit more recent. To the 2022 BBC Proms, where Wang joined the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra on the Royal Albert Hall stage, earning huge acclaim on her arrival alone. So cancel everything you were planning on doing in the next half an hour and settle in to enjoy the true artistry of one of the great pianists of our time.