Yuja Wang: A Different Kind of Pianist   

• Pianist Yuja Wang, who captivates the world with her charismatic artistry and stage presence, grew up in a musical family in Beijing and quickly turned the piano into her passport to the world. After early lessons in China, she trained in Canada and later at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Her breakthrough came in 2007, when she replaced the legendary Martha Argerich at the last minute with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, making a dramatic debut that launched her international career. Soon after, she signed with Deutsche Grammophon, one of classical music’s most prestigious labels. If classical music can seem distant and inaccessible to modern listeners, Wang closes that gap with her spontaneous and lively performances. She says every performance should “have its own life,” like a story told in the moment. Recently, at New York’s Carnegie Hall, she put that philosophy into action with a marathon tribute to Sergei Rachmaninoff. In a single series, she performed all four of his massive piano concertos plus the dazzling “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.” May For The Teen Times teen/1760056159/1613367679