YuJa Wang Masterclass
We were very honoured to have the opportunity to collaborate with Li DeLun Music Foundation to co-host this special masterclass event on Friday October 19, 2007 featuring YuJa Wang.
Born in Beijing in 1987, Yuja was drawn to piano at the age of six when she began studying music in China. She eventually enrolled at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, studying with Professors Ling Yuan and Zhou Guangren. Her earliest public performances took place in China, Australia and Germany. Yuja was a prizewinner in many competitions within China, as well as in Spain and Germany. In 2001, she won the first prize in the Junior Group of the Seiler International Piano Competition. She also won the third prize and was the recipient of the Special Jury Award at the First Japan Sendai International Music Competition.
With her gifted talent and exquisite blend of energetic imagination of youth and mature sensitivity, Yuja has already established herself as one of the rising stars on the international scene. Her astonishing ability to memorize more than 20 piano concertos makes Yuja the most recognized name of her generation.
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Yuja's Biography
At age 20, Yuja has already established herself as one of the most acclaimed artists of her generation:-
- In May 1999, she performed in Paris along with the winners of "Mido" Concours De Tiano Sino-Francais. In July of that same year, as a student and winner of the concerto competition of the Morningside Music Bridge program at Mount Royal College in Calgary, she performed Chopin's First Piano Concerto with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.
- In 2003, Yuja made her debut with the Tonhalle Orchestra in Zurich, Switzerland, performing Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto, with David Zinman conducting.
- In early 2005, Yuja began her first performances with major North American orchestras. In February, her career made a major leap forward when the National Arts Centre Orchestra asked her to replace Radu Lupu at the last moment, and perform Beethoven's Fourth Concerto, with Pinchas Zukerman conducting. Yuja was immediately re-engaged to perform Chopin’s First Concerto in June, and has been invited back for each ensuing season.
- In the 2005-06 season, Yuja performed with the Baltimore, Grand Rapids and New Jersey Symphony Orchestras, and made her debut at both Philadelphia's Kimmel Center and the new Strathmore Concert Hall. She performed Rachmaninoff's “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini?with the China Philharmonic and conductor Long Yu. That same season, she joined conductor Michael Stern at the IRIS Chamber Orchestra and Kansas City Symphony, as well as the Nagoya Philharmonic in Japan.
- In the 2006-07 season, Yuja's career entered a new phase as she made her debut with the New York Philharmonic, the Houston, San Francisco and Chicago Symphonies, and the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Japan.
- In July 2006, Yuja first performed with the New York Philharmonic at the Vail Festival, and then again joined the orchestra in Tokyo with Lorin Maazel conducting, performing the First Concerto of Liszt. In September, she performed Ravel's G Major Concerto with the San Francisco Symphony, with Michael Tilson Thomas conducting. She made her first recital tour in Germany in October 2006.
- In January 2007, Yuja toured to Leeds, U.K. and the Netherlands with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic and Maestro Yuri Temirkanov, performing Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto. In February and March, Yuja collaborated further with Charles Dutoit at both the Chicago and NHK Symphonies, where she made her debuts performing Prokofiev's Second Piano Concerto.
- In April 2007, Yuja returned to San Francisco to perform Beethoven's Second Concerto, with Charles Dutoit conducting. In May, she performed with the China Philharmonic and the Guangzhou Symphony in Beijing and Guangzhou, with Shinik Hahm conducting.
- On October 20, 2007, Yuja made her Toronto debut performing Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor with the National Arts Centre Orchestra conducted by Pinchas Zukerman at Roy Thomson Hall.