Start

Artists

Yuja Wang

News

Deutsche Grammophon China and Xinghai Concert Hall Present the Inaugural DG Music Festival in Guangzhou

Curated by Daniel Hope, the four-day festival celebrates classical music, cross-cultural collaboration and China&rsquo;s emerging musical voices, November 15&ndash;18, 2026
GUANGZHOU, CHINA &mdash; Deutsche Grammophon China and Xinghai Concert Hall will jointly present the inaugural DG Music Festival in Guangzhou from November 15 to 18, 2026. The first officially presented in-person music festival in the label&rsquo;s nearly 130-year history will bring together leading Chinese and international artists for four days of concerts, exhibitions and encounters with audiences.
With the globally renowned violinist and DG artist Daniel Hope serving as the festival&rsquo;s Curator and Guest Artistic Director, the programme features three headline concerts alongside a wide-ranging series of exhibitions and public events. Participating artists include cellist Jian Wang, pianists Xiaofu Ju and Yingjia Xue, guzheng artist Yang Yang, vocalist Linna Gong and the AIR Ensemble. Immediately preceding the core festival performances, longstanding DG artist Yuja Wang will be appearing at Xinghai Concert Hall with Mahler Chamber Orchestra and kicking off the celebration.
Spanning solo recitals, chamber music, vocal performances and cross-cultural collaborations, the festival places classical masterworks alongside traditional melodies, new arrangements and original compositions. It invites audiences across the Greater Bay Area to experience music as a living dialogue between cultures and generations.
A Historic Partnership, a Long-Term Vision
Founded in 1898, Deutsche Grammophon has long been one of the world&rsquo;s most prestigious classical music labels. With nearly three decades of history, Xinghai Concert Hall is an internationally renowned, world-class concert hall and one of China&rsquo;s most influential performing arts venues.
Launched in 2025, DG China is dedicated to discovering and supporting Chinese musical talent in keeping with DG&rsquo;s artistic standards, and bringing China&rsquo;s voices to the world. The festival marks an important step in that commitment. More than a touring event, it is envisioned as a lasting cultural initiative developed together with Xinghai Concert Hall.
Guangzhou&rsquo;s longstanding openness to international exchange provides a fitting setting for this collaboration. Bringing DG&rsquo;s recording heritage into dialogue with Xinghai Concert Hall&rsquo;s dynamic artistic programme, the festival will create a shared space for established masters, emerging artists and audiences to listen, discover and connect.
Dr. Clemens Trautmann, President Deutsche Grammophon and New Business Strategy Global Classics at Universal Music: &ldquo;For nearly 130 years, Deutsche Grammophon has championed exceptional artists and brought their music to audiences around the world. The inaugural DG Music Festival in Guangzhou opens a new chapter in that mission, creating a space where our artistic heritage meets the energy and imagination of Chinese musicians. With Daniel Hope as Curator and Xinghai Concert Hall as our esteemed partner, we look forward to celebrating the power of live music to connect cultures, generations and communities.&rdquo;
&ldquo;We hope that what we create over these four days at Xinghai Concert Hall will be more than a few concerts: a truly open musical space that welcomes all music and conveys hope and energy,&rdquo; says Daniel Hope, Curator and Guest Artistic Director of DG Music Festival. &ldquo;Music&rsquo;s most precious power is not to show us how different we are, but to remind us to share, understand and discover together.&rdquo;
Three Concerts, Three Musical Journeys
Salut d&rsquo;Amour
November 16, 2026 | 8:00 p.m. Jian Wang and Yingjia Xue
The festival&rsquo;s opening headline concert pairs celebrated cellist Jian Wang with pianist Xue Yingjia in a programme of lyrical miniatures spanning the Classical era, Romanticism and the twentieth century.
Highlights include works by Schumann, Saint-Sa&euml;ns, Faur&eacute;, Tchaikovsky, Piazzolla and Elgar, alongside Chinese composer Liu Rongfa&rsquo;s Pastoral Song. Daniel Hope will also make a special appearance.
The first Chinese musician to sign an exclusive contract with DG, Jian Wang embodies a longstanding connection between the label and Chinese artistry. His newly recorded Bach Cello Suites, released in 2025, also marked DG China&rsquo;s first album release.
Music in Harmony
November 17, 2026 | 8:00 p.m. International Masters Meet DG China
Daniel Hope and Jian Wang join Nicola Mosca, principal cellist of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, and DG China artists Xiaofu Ju and Yang Yang for an evening of musical exchange across generations and traditions.
Bringing together violin, cello, piano, guzheng and Irish harp, the programme includes selections from Tan Dun&rsquo;s Hero Concerto, Mendelssohn&rsquo;s Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, and Xiaofu Ju&rsquo;s arrangements of Dowland&rsquo;s In Darkness Let Me Dwell and Mozart&rsquo;s Lacrimosa from Requiem.
Yang Yang contributes her original work Tianmu Yin and her own arrangement of Ludovico Einaudi&rsquo;s Nuvole Bianche. Autumn Moon over the Calm Lake, arranged by Paul Bateman, and Piazzolla&rsquo;s Winter in Buenos Aires further expand the evening&rsquo;s cross-cultural conversation.
A Night of Brilliance
November 18, 2026 | 8:00 p.m. Daniel Hope, AIR Ensemble and Special Guest Linna Gong
The final headline concert brings Daniel Hope together with the AIR Ensemble and acclaimed vocalist Linna Gong for a journey across more than four centuries of music.
Rooted in the Baroque tradition, the AIR Ensemble moves fluently between early music, folk traditions and cross-cultural arrangements. The programme travels from Renaissance and Baroque Europe to Ireland and China, featuring music by composers including Ortiz, Corelli, Purcell and Vivaldi, alongside Irish traditional melodies and special arrangements of Chinese favourites such as Jasmine Flower, Colourful Clouds Chasing the Moon and The Moon Reflected in Erquan.
Beyond the Concert Stage
Throughout the four-day festival, exhibitions and public events will invite audiences to explore the stories, ideas and craftsmanship behind the music.
Four themed exhibitions will showcase performances and artist interviews from DG STAGE+ platform; trace the evolution of DG&rsquo;s album-cover design; celebrate vinyl recordings and the label&rsquo;s recording heritage; and introduce official DG merchandise to China.
The public programme will include a talk marking the 120th anniversary of Dmitri Shostakovich&rsquo;s birth, alongside artist conversations, music-sharing salons, a session exploring concert etiquette, city walks, signing events and an after-party.
These activities will offer opportunities for audiences to meet musicians beyond the concert stage, extending the festival into a broader cultural experience that encourages curiosity, participation and a deeper connection with classical music.
Full programme details, activity announcements and ticketing conditions are available through Xinghai Concert Hall&rsquo;s official channels.
DG Music Festival 2026 November 15&ndash;18, 2026 Xinghai Concert Hall, Guangzhou, China presented by Deutsche Grammophon China and Xinghai Concert Hall
Public Tickets Contact：<a href="mailto:program@concerthall.com.cn">program@concerthall.com.cn</a>

Yuja Wang Records the Shostakovich Piano Concertos  with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Andris Nelsons

The pianist joins the BSO and Nelsons as they complete their monumental Shostakovich cycle and commemorate the 50th anniversary of the composer&rsquo;s death 
Released on 2 May 2025, the album presents the composer&rsquo;s Piano Concertos Nos. 1 &amp; 2, together with a selection of his solo Preludes and Fugues 
Listen to the central Andante from the Second Piano Concerto <a href="https://dgt.link/YujaWang-Shostakovich">here</a>
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s amazing to play Shostakovich with the Boston Symphony, who recorded all the symphonies. You know, they just have it.&rdquo;
Yuja Wang
&nbsp;
Deutsche Grammophon announces the release of Shostakovich: The Piano Concertos | Solo Works, featuring the electrifying artistry of Yuja Wang. The album marks the culmination of the Boston Symphony Orchestra&rsquo;s decade-long, GRAMMY Award&reg;-winning Shostakovich cycle and is released to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the composer&rsquo;s death. It showcases the star pianist&rsquo;s performances with the BSO under the baton of its Music Director Andris Nelsons of Shostakovich&rsquo;s two contrasting piano concertos &ndash; No.&nbsp;1 in C minor and No.&nbsp;2 in F major (&ldquo;Yuja Wang &hellip; navigated both works with conviction and fearless technique&rdquo; &ndash; Boston Globe). Also included are six of Shostakovich&rsquo;s Preludes and Fugues for solo piano, works which have been chosen by Yuja from the composer&rsquo;s Opp.&nbsp;34 &amp; 87, and which offer a more intimate glimpse into his pianistic world.
Recorded at Boston&rsquo;s Symphony Hall by a team headed by legendary Hollywood producer Shawn Murphy and BSO lead recording engineer Nick Squire, the album will be released in standalone digital, CD and vinyl formats on 2 May 2025. The Andante from Piano Concerto No. 2 is available digitally from 14&nbsp;March, while the Prelude in A&nbsp;minor, Op.&nbsp;87/2a will be issued on 11&nbsp;April. Yuja&rsquo;s concerto recordings will also form part of the BSO&rsquo;s comprehensive Shostakovich anthology, which contains all 15&nbsp;symphonies, key incidental works, new recordings of the complete piano, violin, and cello concertos &ndash; the latter with soloists Baiba Skride and Yo-Yo Ma respectively &ndash; and the first commercial audio release in over 20&nbsp;years of the composer&rsquo;s only full-length opera, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District. The anthology is released digitally and as a 19-CD box set on 28&nbsp;March.
Shostakovich&rsquo;s Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor is a work brimming with youthful energy and sardonic wit. Composed in 1933, shortly after the completion of Lady Macbeth and during a period of relative personal tranquility, it represents a fascinating blend of styles and influences. Originally conceived as a trumpet concerto, it was eventually expanded by the composer into a double concerto for piano and trumpet, accompanied by a string orchestra. This unusual instrumentation, combined with Shostakovich&rsquo;s characteristic humour and penchant for musical parody &ndash; here including sly references to Beethoven, Haydn, and even popular tunes &ndash; results in a work both virtuosic and playfully subversive.
The interplay between Yuja&rsquo;s piano and BSO principal Thomas Rolfs&rsquo; characterful trumpet, backed by the vibrant BSO strings, is pure delight. As the pianist herself observes, &ldquo;Every time I take it up, it feels like there&rsquo;s another layer of dark humor to come out &hellip; there&rsquo;s so much making fun of Beethoven, of Bach, of almost everything we know.&rdquo;
Almost a quarter of a century separates the First Concerto from its successor &ndash; a period of immense personal and political turmoil for Shostakovich, shaped by purges, war and the resurgence of Stalinist repression. Such darkness is not however reflected in the Piano Concerto No.&nbsp;2 in F major, composed in 1957 as a 19th-birthday gift for his son Maxim.
Yuja&rsquo;s performance captures the light, often jokey mood of the outer movements &ndash; revealing, as she notes, Shostakovich&rsquo;s &ldquo;shy, kind of quiet, childish&rdquo; nature &ndash; as well as the tender lyricism of the central slow movement. The BSO, under Nelsons&rsquo; assured direction, provides a rich and supportive backdrop that allows her nuanced playing to shine.
The album concludes with six works chosen from two sets of solo pieces: the 24&nbsp;Preludes, Op.&nbsp;34, influenced by Prokofiev and contemporaneous with the First Concerto, and the 24&nbsp;Preludes and Fugues, Op.&nbsp;87 of 1950-51 &ndash; a highly original 20th-century tribute to Bach. Yuja&rsquo;s technical command and expressive range are perfectly suited to the demands of this music, bringing out the intricate counterpoint and emotional weight of these often overlooked gems.
Taken as a whole, this album is a testament to the deep connection felt by Yuja Wang, the BSO, and Andris Nelsons to this composer&rsquo;s music, and a fitting culmination to a remarkable Shostakovich cycle.
&nbsp;

Yuja Wang, Andris Nelsons and the BSO Mark a Messiaen Milestone

The Boston Symphony Orchestra and Andris Nelsons are joined by soloists Yuja Wang and C&eacute;cile Lartigau in Messiaen&rsquo;s epic Turangal&icirc;la-Symphonie 
The recording is released digitally on 6 December 2024 to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the work&rsquo;s world premiere in Boston in December 1949
Listen to the thrilling fifth movement, Joie du sang des &eacute;toiles, <a href="http://dgt.link/Turangalila">here</a>
&ldquo;&hellip;&nbsp;the brilliant Yuja Wang &hellip; performed with agility, acuity, and above all, a keen understanding of the role the piano must play &hellip; The piano and ondes martenot are critical ensemble instruments more than they are vehicles for soloists, and Wang was duly assertive without being aggressive.&rdquo; The Boston Globe
&ldquo;It was such an honor to join the Boston Symphony, Andris Nelsons, and C&eacute;cile Lartigau for such an historic performance of&nbsp;Turangal&icirc;la. I hope that those who listen to this recording will feel as exhilarated as I did during the breathtaking performances!&rdquo; Yuja Wang
Captured at Boston&rsquo;s Symphony Hall in April 2024, this new Deutsche Grammophon recording presents Messiaen&rsquo;s monumental Turangal&icirc;la-Symphonie. The work was one of the centrepieces of the Boston Symphony Orchestra&rsquo;s &ldquo;Music of the Senses&rdquo; Festival, aimed at expanding the audience experience through music that plays with colour, light, sound and time. The BSO and its Music Director Andris Nelsons were joined on stage by pianist and exclusive DG artist Yuja Wang and by C&eacute;cile Lartigau, one of today&rsquo;s rare ondes Martenot players.
A first taste of their dazzling interpretation can be heard in the exuberant fifth movement, Joie du sang des &eacute;toiles, released on 15&nbsp;November. The full recording will be released as a digital album on 6&nbsp;December 2024, marking the 75th anniversary of the world premiere, given by the BSO and Leonard Bernstein on 2&nbsp;December 1949. A physical release will follow in 2025.
The BSO is celebrating two other significant anniversaries this year &ndash; it is 150 years since the birth of Serge Koussevitzky, its legendary ninth Music Director, and 100 years since his appointment to that role. It was Koussevitzky who commissioned Turangal&icirc;la, giving Messiaen free rein by telling him, &ldquo;Choose as many instruments as you desire, write a work as long as you wish and in the style you want.&rdquo;
The result was this extraordinary, 10-movement symphony for large orchestra &ndash; including a vast array of percussion &ndash; with solo piano and ondes Martenot (an early electronic instrument). It was the perfect work for the BSO to programme in its festival, not only because of its origins, but also because Messiaen&rsquo;s synaesthesia meant he saw colours when he heard or imagined sound. He called Turangal&icirc;la, which was inspired in part by the Tristan myth, &ldquo;the most coloured&rdquo; of his works and a &ldquo;hymn to joy&rdquo;. Under Nelsons&rsquo; baton, the BSO and the two virtuosic soloists reveal every facet of the work&rsquo;s kaleidoscopic colours, heady harmonies and sweeping emotional drama.

Yuja Wang  wins her first GRAMMY® Award

Berlin, Monday 5 February 2024 &ndash; Winners of the 66th GRAMMY&reg; Awards were announced earlier today, and Deutsche Grammophon artist, pianist Yuja Wang was awarded in &nbsp;Best Classical Instrumental Solo &ndash; one of the leading classical categories &ndash; for <a href="https://www.deutschegrammophon.com/de/katalog/produkte/the-american-project-yuja-wang-12891?utm_source=multiple+sources&amp;utm_medium=multiple+mediums&amp;utm_campaign=Yuja+Wang+The+American+Project+generic">The American Project</a>, alongside conductor Teddy Abrams. &nbsp;
On collecting the award during the <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=yuja+wang+grammy+tddy+abrams+acceptance&amp;rlz=1C1GCEA_enDE1091DE1091&amp;oq=yuja+wang+grammy+tddy+abrams+acceptance&amp;gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIJCAEQIRgKGKABMgkIAhAhGAoYoAEyCQgDECEYChigAdIBCzEzODE4M2owajE1qAIAsAIA&amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&amp;vld=cid:bf621c4c,vid:kYEHvRNqunk,st:0">Premiere Ceremony</a>, Teddy Abrams said: &rdquo;A huge congratulations to the incredible Yuja Wang, who&rsquo;s soloed on this extraordinary album. Yuja is one of the most talented musicians on the face of the earth right now.&rdquo;
The GRAMMY&reg;, which recognises outstanding artistic and technical achievement, stands as the record industry&rsquo;s highest accolade. &ldquo;The whole team here at Deutsche Grammophon are thrilled about Yuja Wang&rsquo;s first Grammy success and we extend our warmest wishes and congratulations to her, &ldquo; says Dr Clemens Trautmann, President Deutsche Grammophon. &ldquo;We have collaborated with Yuja for more than a decade, and it&rsquo;s a particular joy and honour to see her work recognised by the Recording Academy.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Yuja&rsquo;s performances on The American Project, including the world premiere recording of Teddy Abrams&rsquo; Piano Concerto with the Louisville Orchestra, are truly exceptional in their virtuosity and genre-defying expressivity,&rdquo; Trautmann continues. &ldquo;The inspirational musicianship of all Deutsche Grammophon artists, whether heard in great landmarks of the classical repertoire, thrilling new music or revelatory rediscoveries, speaks to people of all ages and backgrounds. I want to thank our artists and every member of the DG team for their dedication and unshakeable commitment to excellence in music,&rdquo; Trautmann concludes.
Best Classical Instrumental Solo &ndash; WINNER&nbsp;
YUJA WANG &ndash; THE AMERICAN PROJECT
Yuja Wang
Teddy Abrams, conductor (Louisville Orchestra)

YUJA WANG ANNOUNCES HER NEW ALBUM – THE VIENNA RECITAL

&ldquo;Yuja Wang sent the Konzerthaus into raptures &hellip; the hall went wild!&rdquo; (Der Standard, Vienna) &ndash; on 26&nbsp;April 2022 the virtuoso pianist thrilled her Viennese audience with an astonishingly eclectic mix of repertoire. Recorded and filmed live on the night, the programme ranged from the early Classicism of Gluck to the improvisatory jazz piano of Kapustin, via music by Alb&eacute;niz, Beethoven, Glass, Scriabin and more. As can be heard on her forthcoming album, taken from that acclaimed recital, Yuja displayed an effortless ease in switching between different eras and genres. Yuja Wang &ndash; The Vienna Recital will be released by Deutsche Grammophon on CD, on vinyl (2 LPs) and digitally on 3&nbsp;May 2024, with three tracks issued ahead of the album: the third movement (Andante) of Scriabin&rsquo;s Piano Sonata No.&nbsp;3 on 22&nbsp;March, Philip Glass&rsquo;s &Eacute;tude No.&nbsp;6 on 5&nbsp;April and Kapustin&rsquo;s Jazz Prelude No.&nbsp;10 on 19&nbsp;April. Subscribers to <a href="https://www.stage-plus.com/video/vod_concert_APNM8GRFDPHMASJKBSP3ED8">STAGE+</a> can enjoy the filmed performance on the DG platform right now.
Reviewing the recital Yuja had given in London a few days earlier, Bachtrack noted that its &ldquo;unpredictability added to [the] palpable excitement in a packed Royal Festival Hall&rdquo;. Despite, or perhaps because of its eclecticism, this is unquestionably a programme with its own life, ebbing and flowing and creating a cohesive whole from its seemingly disparate musical elements.
Yuja opens, for example, with music by one of her famous forebears &ndash; the prodigious pianist and composer Isaac Alb&eacute;niz. The modal tones of &ldquo;M&aacute;laga&rdquo; from his Iberia collection make it an unexpectedly perfect prelude to Scriabin&rsquo;s epic and restlessly chromatic Third Piano Sonata. Similarly, the bluesy verve of the Kapustin Jazz Preludes that follow sets the scene for a return to Iberia and the vibrant colours and rhythms of &ldquo;Lavapi&eacute;s&rdquo;.
Next comes a second large-scale work: Beethoven&rsquo;s four-movement Sonata No.&nbsp;18 in E flat major &ldquo;The&nbsp;Hunt&rdquo;, dating from the opposite end of the 19th century from Scriabin&rsquo;s No.&nbsp;3. Highlights here include the spontaneous rubato Yuja employs in the opening Allegro and the contrast she creates between the graceful Menuetto and the suitably fiery energy of the Presto con fuoco finale.
The pianist has previously recorded five of Ligeti&rsquo;s &Eacute;tudes for Deutsche Grammophon, and now she adds two more to the list &ndash; Nos. 6 and 13 &ndash; in brilliant style. No.&nbsp;6, &ldquo;Automne &agrave; Varsovie&rdquo; (Autumn in Warsaw) has a rhyhmic complexity inspired in part by Nancarrow&rsquo;s Studies for Player Piano, while there are echoes of Escher&rsquo;s endless steps in the repeated ascents of No.&nbsp;13 &ldquo;L&rsquo;escalier du diable&rdquo; (The Devil&rsquo;s Staircase). A third &eacute;tude follows &ndash; No.&nbsp;6 by Philip Glass, for which Yuja deploys a rich palette of harmonic and dynamic colours.
From New York to Mexico and a solo piano transcription (by Leticia G&oacute;mez-Tagle) of Arturo M&aacute;rquez&rsquo;s Danz&oacute;n No. 2 (1994), full of sensuous syncopation. We travel back 100 years for a beautifully tranquil reading of Brahms&rsquo;s Intermezzo in C sharp minor, Op.&nbsp;117 No.&nbsp;3, and further back in time again for the final work on the album, the &ldquo;Dance of the Blessed Spirits&rdquo; from Gluck&rsquo;s Orph&eacute;e et Eurydice, as arranged for solo piano under the title M&eacute;lodie by the 19th-century composer-pianist Giovanni Sgambati &ndash; one of Yuja&rsquo;s favourite encores.
At the start of this season, Yuja Wang was interviewed by Gramophone magazine. The wide-ranging conversations led to a conclusion which sums up the spirit of this recital album: &ldquo;Talking with Yuja confirms one thing above all others: she has a voracious appetite for music &hellip; she craves new experiences and opportunities to explore music she doesn&rsquo;t yet know &hellip; It is this musical curiosity and desire for expanding horizons that will continue to make [her] a pianist of such self-renewing interest and importance.&rdquo;

Rachmaninoff 150: Yuja Wang, Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Perform the Works for Piano and Orchestra

Los Angeles, the city in which Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) spent the last few months of his life, played host to an exceptional festival of music last February. As part of this year&rsquo;s Rachmaninoff&nbsp;150 celebrations, Yuja Wang joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic and its Music and Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel over two consecutive weekends to perform all four of the composer&rsquo;s piano concertos and the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Deutsche Grammophon were there to capture their sold-out and critically acclaimed performances live at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Rachmaninoff: The Piano Concertos and Paganini Rhapsody is now set for release on 2&nbsp;CDs, 3&nbsp;LPs and digitally on 1&nbsp;September 2023. The Allegro vivace finale of Piano Concerto No.&nbsp;1 comes out as an e‑single and e‑video on 23&nbsp;June; the filmed cycle of five performances will be premiered on <a href="https://www.stage-plus.com/video/live_concert_9HKNCPA3DTN66PBIEHFJ6CHN" target="_blank" rel="noopener">STAGE+</a> on 24&nbsp;June and will also be available on the LA Phil&rsquo;s online concert series SOUND/STAGE later in September.
A formidably talented pianist himself, Rachmaninoff wrote a wide range of expressive, idiomatic music for his own instrument, including these five dazzling large-scale works for piano and orchestra. They have been part of Yuja Wang&rsquo;s repertoire since the start of her career, and she continues to bring fresh insights to their kaleidoscopic riches. She has collaborated with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic many times, and a powerful sense of mutual respect and understanding is conveyed through these performances. &nbsp;As Dudamel notes, &ldquo;We connect as if we were playing chamber music.&rdquo;
Rachmaninoff began work on his First Piano Concerto in 1890, when he was still a student at the Moscow Conservatory. Some 26 years later he substantially revised the work, and it is the 1917 version that opens this new album. The composer himself wrote at the time, &ldquo;All the youthful freshness is there, and yet it plays itself so much more easily.&rdquo; Yuja Wang certainly makes the solo writing sound effortless, from the fiery flourishes of the first and third movements, to the intimate delicacy of the central Andante.
A huge success at its premiere in 1901, the Second Concerto remains one of the composer&rsquo;s best-loved works. Its wealth of passion, virtuosity and glorious melodies are perhaps all the more remarkable given that the score emerged from the period of despondency Rachmaninoff experienced after the initial failure of his First Symphony. So familiar is the concerto that there is the risk of falling into well-worn grooves, but with not these performers. As the Los Angeles Times noted in its review, Yuja &ldquo;attacked [the opening chords], making each one an ever-more-important event. She seemed to be saying, listen, this matters &hellip; [Along] with Dudamel, who was propulsive and extravagantly detailed in the accompaniments, [she] went &hellip; for the dynamism of our times.&rdquo;
Soloist, orchestra and conductor also breathe fresh life into the Third, almost as well-known as its predecessor, and renowned for its technical and emotional demands, rhythmic complexity and intense melodic writing. Rachmaninoff wrote it in 1909 for his first tour of America and it proved to be the perfect showcase for his exceptional pianistic abilities. He conducted some performances himself from the keyboard, but when he played it with the New York Philharmonic he handed over that responsibility to no less a figure than Gustav Mahler.
The Fourth Piano Concerto was composed in 1926, by which time Rachmaninoff had left Russia and was living in New York. Influenced by the new trends of the day, it was not well received at first, and although the composer revised it before it was published two years later, he then withdrew it and only reissued it in 1941. With its hints of Gershwin, jazz and blues, its leaner, more focused style, and its more prominent role for the orchestra &ndash; all challenges ably met by the Los Angeles Philharmonic &ndash; the 1941 version can only make us wonder what Rachmaninoff might have written next.
The composer&rsquo;s final work for piano and orchestra, the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, was written in 1934, halfway between the first and final versions of Concerto No.&nbsp;4. It takes the last of Paganini&rsquo;s 24&nbsp;Caprices for solo violin and transforms it in endlessly inventive ways. Yuja Wang reflects the work&rsquo;s ever-changing moods, encompassing shimmering mystery, forceful energy, intense drama and magical lyricism, as she, Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic produce an interpretation of enormous emotional sweep and scale.
Yuja Wang plays the Paganini Rhapsody with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg and Gustavo Gimeno this summer in Luxembourg, Wiesbaden (the Rheingau Festival), Amsterdam and Granada (1&ndash;3, 6&nbsp;July). At the Verbier Festival, she performs the Third Piano Concerto on 14 July and the Cello Sonata and Trio &eacute;l&eacute;giaque No.&nbsp;1 on 19&nbsp;July. Variation&nbsp;24 of the Rhapsody will be released as a single to coincide with her performance of the work at the BBC Proms on 4 August, with two further singles to follow on 18&nbsp;August and alongside the album release on 1&nbsp;September.

American Beauty – Yuja Wang’s Artistry Shines in World Premiere Recording of Teddy Abrams’ Piano Concerto

Yuja Wang k&uuml;ndigt ihr neues Album "The American Project" an, auf dem sie neben der Urauff&uuml;hrung des Klavierkonzerts von Teddy Abrams mit einem Werk von Michael Tilson Thomas zu h&ouml;ren ist. Das Album erscheint am 10. M&auml;rz beim gelben Label.

Yuja Wang gives a dazzling solo performance in the world premiere recording of a major new work specially written for her by her friend Teddy Abrams. Although originally conceived as a short companion composition to Gershwin&rsquo;s Rhapsody in Blue, Abrams&rsquo; Piano Concerto blossomed to become a 35-minute standalone showpiece. Celebrating the richness of America&rsquo;s musical culture and the sheer depth and breadth of Yuja Wang&rsquo;s virtuosity, the work now features on Yuja Wang&nbsp;&middot;&nbsp;The American Project. Also included on the album is You Come Here Often?, created for the star pianist by another close friend, Michael Tilson Thomas. Both were recorded live with the Louisville Orchestra, conducted by Abrams, its Music Director. Yuja Wang&nbsp;&middot;&nbsp;The American Project is set for digital and physical release by Deutsche Grammophon on 10&nbsp;March 2023.
Teddy Abrams and Yuja Wang met during their student days at Philadelphia&rsquo;s Curtis Institute of Music, one of the world&rsquo;s leading conservatoires. The highly versatile Abrams &ndash; pianist, clarinettist, composer and conductor &ndash; and the then rising-star pianist became friends at the time, after he volunteered to accompany her in piano-only play-throughs of the standard concerto repertoire. Following his appointment as Music Director of the Louisville Orchestra in 2014, he began writing large-scale works for its musicians. &ldquo;It was,&rdquo; he recalls, &ldquo;the beginning of a really special relationship that we have retained to this day.&rdquo;
Abrams&rsquo; list of Louisville compositions grew following a discussion with Wang about her performing Rhapsody in Blue with the orchestra. His Piano Concerto is constructed in eleven sections, including a swing-style big band overture, three solo cadenzas, a Gershwinesque &ldquo;orchestra break&rdquo;, the Latin jazz-inspired &ldquo;Solos&rdquo; and passages that echo boogie-woogie, American gospel tunes or Broadway showstoppers. Yuja Wang joined the Louisville Orchestra and Abrams for the work&rsquo;s world premiere at the Kentucky Center in January 2022 and stayed on to record the piece for Deutsche Grammophon.
&ldquo;The piano, in particular, is a kind of wanderer that makes it through hundreds of years of musical history, and is so translatable to other styles,&rdquo; observes Teddy Abrams. &ldquo;I see this concerto as an opportunity for the piano to guide us through what I think is one of the strengths of American culture, its plurality, its interconnectedness.&rdquo; His Piano Concerto reflects America&rsquo;s abiding affection for star performers with heart and soul. &ldquo;I think Yuja&rsquo;s one of the greatest pianists alive, and of all time,&rdquo; he notes. &ldquo;I always intended for her to be the one to take this piece and make it her own.&rdquo;
Abrams received his first conducting lessons from Michael Tilson Thomas in San Francisco at the age of eleven. The conductor, himself a fine pianist and distinguished composer, became his long-term mentor and friend. Tilson Thomas also encouraged Yuja Wang at the start of her career. He enlarged her stock of encores in 2016 with You Come Here Often?, which serves as the opening track of her new album. The piece grows from a simple rhythmic riff into a jazz fusion number complete with reflective episodes and rock-fuelled dash to the finish line.

Great Landmarks of Late Romantic Music Performed by Yuja Wang, Andreas Ottensamer and Gautier Capuçon

Yuja Wang (Klavier), Andreas Ottensamer (Klarinette) und Gautier Capu&ccedil;on (Cello) haben ihr Albumdeb&uuml;t als Kammermusik-Trio angek&uuml;ndigt. Auf dem Programm stehen Meilensteine sp&auml;tromantischer Kammermusik.

Pianist Yuja Wang, clarinettist Andreas Ottensamer and cellist Gautier Capu&ccedil;on have earned a reputation as a &ldquo;super-trio&rdquo;, having given performances worldwide that reveal the instinctive, almost telepathic bond of musical communication that exists between the three players. Their first album for Deutsche Grammophon, set for release on 2 September 2022 digitally and on CD, documents that extraordinary rapport. Capturing the energy and intensity of sessions held at the Konzerthaus Dortmund in 2021, Works by Sergei Rachmaninoff &amp; Johannes Brahms includes visionary interpretations of Rachmaninoff&rsquo;s Cello Sonata Op.&nbsp;19, Brahms&rsquo;s Cello Sonata No.1 Op.&nbsp;38 and the same composer&rsquo;s Trio for piano, clarinet and cello Op.&nbsp;114.
Rachmaninoff&rsquo;s Cello Sonata is one of the milestones of late-Romantic chamber music. Completed in November 1901, it marked the end of the composer&rsquo;s process of recovery from the breakdown he had suffered following the disastrous premiere of his First Symphony. The experience helped shape the huge emotional range and sense of triumph over adversity of a sonata that makes equally high demands on both players, raising the piano from the status of accompanist to that of soloist.
Ideal interpreters of this music, Yuja Wang and Gautier Capu&ccedil;on convey every dramatic twist and turn of its score, from the darkness and despair of the opening movement to the joyful ecstasy of the finale. &ldquo;The dialogue Rachmaninoff creates in his Cello Sonata is very special,&rdquo; comments Yuja Wang. &ldquo;It felt as if his spirit was inspiring us during our sessions in Dortmund.&rdquo;
&ldquo;We were equally inspired by the spirit of Brahms in two of his most profound works, and by Andreas&rsquo;s magical playing in the Clarinet Trio,&rdquo; she adds. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s such a joy to feel this sense of freedom and communication and to be able to share it with our listeners.&rdquo;
Brahms was in his late 20s when he cultivated his distinct musical language with a series of chamber compositions. His first published duo, the Cello Sonata in E minor shows his mastery of form and invention. The work, which began life in 1862 but remained unfinished for three years, reflects the composer&rsquo;s close study of J.S. Bach&rsquo;s music, clearly so in its finale&rsquo;s fugal writing. It also projects the cello&rsquo;s warm, lyrical voice across three movements packed with strong themes and rich harmonies.
By contrast, the Clarinet Trio is a late work, written in the summer of 1891. Directly inspired by the playing of Richard M&uuml;hlfeld, the virtuosic principal clarinettist of the famous Meiningen court orchestra, it embraces the melancholy mood of an ageing composer who was considering retiring from public life and contemplating his own mortality.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a big challenge to record a masterpiece like the Brahms Trio &ndash; and the only way I wanted to do this was with my close friends Yuja and Gautier&rdquo;, notes Andreas Ottensamer. &ldquo;Being on stage with them feels so natural!&rdquo;
For his part, Gautier Capu&ccedil;on praises his two musical collaborators and their pursuit of deep meaning in the chosen repertoire.&nbsp; &ldquo;Everything flowed with such ease with this recording,&rdquo; he comments. &ldquo;And there was an electricity in the air that is so rare and so beautiful.&rdquo;
In preparation for their DG recording sessions, Yuja Wang, Andreas Ottensamer and Gautier Capu&ccedil;on performed the album&rsquo;s programme at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Kurhaus Wiesbaden, La Grange au Lac, Konzerthaus Dortmund and Tonhalle D&uuml;sseldorf. Summing up their performance of the Brahms Clarinet Trio, the Rheinische Post (D&uuml;sseldorf) said, &ldquo;it doesn&rsquo;t get any better than this&rdquo;, calling the three artists &ldquo;ideal casting&rdquo;.&nbsp;

Yuja Wang & Gautier Capuçon present new recording of Rachmaninoff’s Sonata for Piano and Cello

Rachmaninoff&rsquo;s Cello Sonata Op.19, one of the great landmarks of late Romantic music, has found its ideal interpreters in Yuja Wang and Gautier Capu&ccedil;on. Their new recording of the work for Deutsche Grammophon projects a partnership of equals fully immersed in the music&rsquo;s turbulent emotions and striking expressive contrasts. Released digitally on 19 November 2021, it will also form part of a full album from Wang, Capu&ccedil;on and clarinettist Andreas Ottensamer to follow next October, on which it will be coupled with Brahms&rsquo;s Cello Sonata No. 1 and Clarinet Trio.
&ldquo;In the last few years of working together, Gautier and I have developed a way of finishing each other&rsquo;s musical sentences,&rdquo; says Yuja Wang. &ldquo;The dialogue Rachmaninoff creates in his Sonata is very special, and it felt almost as if his spirit was inspiring us during our sessions in Dortmund this summer.&rdquo; The cellist agrees: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s always a delight to make music with Yuja,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;Everything flowed with such ease with this recording. And there was an electricity in the air that is so rare and so beautiful.&rdquo;
The Rachmaninoff Sonata is a work that makes equally high demands on both players. Revealing the depth of their communicative connection, regular chamber partners Wang and Capu&ccedil;on convey every dramatic twist and turn of its score, from the darkness and despair of the opening movement to the joyful ecstasy of the finale. Yuja Wang&rsquo;s artistry in Rachmaninoff has been praised for its compelling combination of &ldquo;astonishing facility&rdquo; (Gramophone), &ldquo;exquisitely nuanced playing&rdquo; (Evening Standard, London) and &ldquo;devil-may-care glamour and dexterity&rdquo; (Guardian). Gautier Capu&ccedil;on, meanwhile, has earned acclaim for performances noted for their striking passion and uncanny range of tone colours.
Rachmaninoff completed his Sonata in November 1901, and its huge emotional range and sense of triumph over adversity reflect the fact that he had finally recovered from the breakdown he had suffered more than four years earlier, following the disastrous premiere of his First Symphony. The Sonata was written for and dedicated to virtuoso cellist Anatoliy Brandukov, who gave its first performance in Moscow in December 1901 with the composer at the keyboard.&nbsp; Because of the work&rsquo;s symphonic scope and the prominence and difficulty of its piano part, Rachmaninoff was reluctant to call it a cello sonata and it was published in 1902 under the title &ldquo;Sonata for Piano and Cello in G&nbsp;minor&rdquo;. The composer was soon immersed in creating works for the stage, symphony orchestra and choral forces and this proved to be his last and greatest contribution to the chamber music repertoire.

Additionally released in Dolby Atmos® and in video Dudamel and the LA Phil perform John Adams

Premiered in March 2019 at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and recorded later last year in November in a world premiere recording, Gustavo Dudamel and LA Philharmonic are joined by pianist Yuja Wang for this over 25-minute new composition by John Adams from 2018 that was also commissioned by the orchestra.
The work was inspired by an article with the same title about Dorothy Day in the New Yorker. Adams has noted: &ldquo;That&rsquo;s a good title just waiting for a piece. The phrase suggested a &lsquo;Totentanz&rsquo;, only not of the Lisztian manner, but more of a funk-invested American-style.&rdquo;
The composition received wonderful reviews. The LA Times wrote: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s true, the &lsquo;Devil&rsquo; is up to his old tricks. But what a devil! And what tricks!&rdquo; The Washington Post agreed with Adams about his reference to a &lsquo;Totentanz&rsquo;: &ldquo;This is a city piece: all steel girders and glass monoliths, pounding factory rhythms and fatally seductive temptations around every corner &mdash; very much the modern-day equivalent of a Lisztian &ldquo;Totentanz&rdquo; that Adams has said he was aiming to create&hellip;&rdquo; The newspaper compared the work to "a Prokofiev-style piano concerto, retrofitted with minimalist rhythmic cells, bebop bursts of brass and ironic commentary from a sampled, out-of-tune, honky-tonk piano&hellip; driving syncopations and a riot of orchestral color building to a satisfying finish&rdquo;.
Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes? is American composer John Adams&rsquo; latest creation for piano, and continues his provocative exploration of that instrument heard in Grand Pianola Music (1983) and Hallelujah Junction (2001).&nbsp;Written by Adams for pianist Yuja Wang, the recording was released digitally in standard and HD version in April and is today further released as a visual streaming album in Apple Music and Tidal and as a digital audio version with Dolby Atmos&reg; sound in Amazon Music HD. A release of a vinyl edition is scheduled for 16 October.
The New York Times further described the work as &ldquo;uneasily fascinating &hellip; [a] beautifully disconcerting concerto.&rdquo; As is always true of Adams&rsquo; music, an initial thread of inspiration &ndash; in this case the phrase that became the work&rsquo;s title &ndash; is woven together with many others, including Liszt, Ligeti, gospel music and more: the opening is marked &ldquo;Gritty, Funky&rdquo;, while the third and final section is marked &ldquo;Obsession/Swing.&rdquo; As noted by Musical America, the concerto &ldquo;bristles with a percussive, highly rhythmic, technically fearsome piano part&nbsp;&hellip;&nbsp;[and is] an excitable, satisfying, boisterous vehicle for Wang and Dudamel.&rdquo;
Adams&rsquo; ability to deconstruct aesthetic clich&eacute;s and bridge the gaps between different forms of music has earned him worldwide appreciation, as demonstrated last year when he became the first American composer to be awarded the prestigious Erasmus Prize for his contribution to contemporary classical music.
Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes? continues his close connection with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Established almost 40 years ago, their relationship grew even stronger in 2009 when Gustavo Dudamel appointed Adams to the newly created position of Creative Chair.
Dudamel has championed the composer&rsquo;s music for years, and his DG discography already includes the orchestral work City Noir, recorded at his inaugural Walt Disney Concert Hall concert with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the oratorio The Gospel According to the Other Mary &ndash; directed by Peter Sellars and featuring an impressive team of soloists &ndash; which was recorded at the same venue four years later.
As for soloist Yuja Wang, she gives an outstanding performance, bringing &ldquo;scintillating finger-work to &hellip; this high-octane recording&rdquo; (Financial Times). With her electrifying technique, she effortlessly masters the intricate and at times exceptionally difficult piano writing, successfully weaving lightness and elegance together with dynamism and explosiveness &ndash; the contrasting but characteristic qualities of Adams&rsquo; music. Reviewing the premiere, The Washington Post noted that Ms. Wang was &ldquo;as impressive for her poetic sensibilities as for her pyrotechnic dazzle.&rdquo; The sheer brilliance of her music-making is ideally captured in the new edition with Dolby Atmos&reg; of this vibrant recording.

The Peace Concert Versailles

A setlist like no other, a never-heard-before compilation of deeply moving musical pieces highlighting numerous aspects of war and peace, this is how the Wiener Philharmoniker, led by Franz Welser-M&ouml;st and supported by an all-star line-up, among them singular pianist Yuja Wang, tackled the highly anticipated concert in commemoration of the end of the 1st world war. 100 years after the first of the devastating humane catastrophes of the 20th century officially ended at Versailles, a group of inspired musicians gathered at the historic site for a concert that will live on in the memory of those who have seen or heard it. Listen to the album in audio 'The Peace Concert Versailles'&nbsp; on the streaming platform of your choice. Listen to the album 'The Peace Concert Versailles' in audio<a href="https://dg.lnk.to/Versailles"> on the streaming platform of your choice</a> or as a video in <a style="word-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;" href="https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Femail.deutschegrammophon.com%2F53EL-8GHM-2SA0UR-6OHXJ-1%2Fc.aspx&amp;data=02%7C01%7Crupert.wagg%40umusic.com%7C33fe43ed9cd6472c652e08d769f87ed8%7Cbbcb6b2f8c7c4e2486e46c36fed00b78%7C1%7C0%7C637094388322560029&amp;sdata=OH8f92nZuR6%2FFI0djVJ73K8gnKAvLiRIO9u0aUHePAc%3D&amp;reserved=0">Apple Music</a>.

Lustre and Lyricism

Austrian clarinettist Andreas Ottensamer has joined forces with Chinese pianist Yuja Wang to record an album of works by composers of the Romantic era. Blue Hour&nbsp;features some of the jewels of the repertoire, including Brahms&rsquo;s Intermezzo in A major, Mendelssohn&rsquo;s Songs without Words &ndash; arranged for clarinet and piano by Ottensamer &ndash; and Weber&rsquo;s virtuosic Grand Duo concertant. The album reveals Ottensamer to be not just a sensitive and responsive chamber partner, but also a brilliant soloist, as he gives a dazzling performance of Weber&rsquo;s First Clarinet Concerto, recorded with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Mariss Jansons. Blue Hour&nbsp;is <a href="https://dg.lnk.to/bluehour">out now</a>.

Get news about new DG releases, artist updates, exclusive promotions, and specials delivered straight to your inbox.

Use * after final word when searching with multiple words (e.g. van beethoven*) and as placeholder to complete words (e.g. *eethov*)

How to use the filters

Showing 1 - {currentResults} of {totalResults} total results

Showing 1 - {currentResults} of {totalResults} product families for series "{webSeries}"

The content is not available in this language. It is shown in original language.

Title

Yuja Wang · Cécile Lartigau Boston Symphony Orchestra Andris Nelsons

Yuja Wang - News | Deutsche Grammophon

News

Similar artists to Yuja Wang