Wang made her European concert debut in 2003, performing Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto with David Zinman and the Zurich Tonhalle; shortly after, she enjoyed her North American debut in a concert in Ottawa under the baton of Pinchas Zukerman. Her New York Philharmonic debut came in 2006, while, the following year, she performed Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto with Charles Dutoit and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. She has formed relationships with eminent conductors such as Michael Tilson Thomas of the San Francisco Symphony and Zubin Mehta of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Wang has consistently wowed audiences with her mastery of the standard repertory, but she's upended the stereotype of a self-serious concert pianist with awe-inspiring versatility, spicing up her performances with comic flourishes, jazzy flair and even funky barrelhouse chops.

Yuja Wang in Concert

Chinese pianist Yuja Wang has taken the classical world by storm with her rhapsodic, thoughtful interpretations of music by composers like Rachmaninoff, Brahms, Chopin and Prokofiev. A Romantic through and through, her touch always gives way to airy melodies and textures that convey oceans of feeling. Born in Beijing in 1987, Wang took up piano at a young age, going to the Central Conservatory of Music in her hometown, and then as a teenager, attending the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. She won prizes at the Ettlingen International Competition for Young Pianists, the first Sendai International Music Competition in Japan and the Aspen Music Festival's concerto competition before beginning a lauded career as a touring soloist in the early 2000s. Signing to esteemed label Deutsche Grammophon, Wang would release a string of critically beloved records that situated her as an enduring force in the industry. Her first album, Sonatas & Etudes (2009), featured music by Chopin, Ligeti and Scriabin, and scored Wang a Grammy nomination in the Best Instrumental Soloist Performance category; the following year, she released Transformation, which contained music by Stravinsky, Scarletti, Brahms and Ravel. She also recorded multiple Rachmaninoff albums, and has recorded with top conductors like Gustavo Dudamel and Claudio Abbado.