Yuja Wang goes for gold

By Michael Church

If the Olympics had a keyboard category, there’s no question who would win it. When Evgeny Kissin heard Yuja Wang’s blistering performance at Verbier two years ago, his admiring comment was that even her compatriot Lang Lang could eat his heart out, because in terms of technique there wasn’t anything this phenomenal young woman couldn’t do—seemingly without effort. From a cultivated Muslim home, Wang (pictured) began her piano studies at Beijing conservatory, where she stayed until she won a competition in Calgary at 14. She then enrolled as a top-flight student at the Curtis in Philadelphia: now, at 25, she has an American college-girl manner, and bridles when pigeonholed as a Chinese pianist.

Deputising in turn for those keyboard greats Radu Lupu, Murray Perahia, Kissin and Daniel Barenboim, she exploded onto the international circuit, with her first two CDs confirming her extraordinary talent; her latest, a collection of encores, is a flawless extension of the photogenic charm which has made her a marketing executive’s dream. But as her recent recital at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall revealed, she doesn’t yet have the musical wisdom required for Beethoven: prestidigitation is only the beginning of great pianism. At Verbier on Aug 3rd she will dazzle with Scriabin, Rachmaninov and Ravel; for those who can’t be there, her YouTube performances make a fine second-best. ~ Michael Church