Yuja Wang will replace Maurizio Pollini, who has cancelled in order to fully recover from a brief illness, in the one-night-only performance of Schumann's Piano Concerto with the New York Philharmonic led by Music Director Jaap van Zweden, Wednesday, March 27, 2019, at 7:30 p.m. The program will also include Johan Wagenaar's Cyrano de Bergerac Overture and Beethoven's Symphony No. 7.
The performance will mark Yuja Wang's 24th with the New York Philharmonic; she most recently appeared with the Orchestra and Jaap van Zweden in February March 2018, both in New York and on tour to Asia. She will return next season for performances of Shostakovich's Concerto No. 1 for Piano, Trumpet, and Strings, June 11 13, 2020, also conducted by Jaap van Zweden and featuring Principal Trumpet Christopher Martin.
The Boston Globe wrote of her performance of Schumann's Piano Concerto last month with the Boston Symphony Orchestra: Not just a vehicle for virtuosic fireworks, the concerto calls for a keen listening ear and attunement to the larger ensemble Wang demonstrated all that in spades. Like an elite figure skater or gymnast, the athletic effort she expended was palpable, but if the physical feats took any toll, the audience never saw it.
Beijing-born pianist Yuja Wang is set to achieve new heights in critical superlatives and audience ovations during the 2018 19 season, through recitals, concert series, season residencies, and extensive tours with some of the world's most venerated ensembles and conductors. Ms. Wang is featured as an artist-in-residence at Carnegie Hall with a season-long Perspectivesseries, including appearances on April 10, May 1, and May 2. She is also artist-in-residence at the Wiener Konzerthaus, with a Portrait series, and the Luxembourg Philharmonie. In the autumn of 2018 she toured with the Berlin Philharmonic and Kirill Petrenko, then undertook a recital tour to South America and performed several concerts with the Munich Philharmonic, conducted by Valery Gergiev, throughout Asia. It also marked the release of her solo recital album, The Berlin Recital, by Deutsche Grammophon, featuring works by Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, and Prokofiev, recorded live at the Berlin Philharmonie. In March 2019 she embarked on a tour with the Los Angeles Philharmonic to give the first-ever performances of John Adams's newest piano concerto, and in April 2019 she reunites with cellist Gautier Capuc on for a vast US chamber tour. Yuja Wang received advanced training in Canada and at Philadelphia's Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Gary Graffman. Her international breakthrough came in 2007 when she replaced Martha Argerich as soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. She later signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon, and has since established her place among the world's leading artists, with a succession of critically acclaimed performances and recordings.
Conductor Jaap van Zweden has become an international presence on three continents over the past decade. The 2018 19 season marks his first as the 26th Music Director of the New York Philharmonic. He continues as Music Director of the Hong Kong Philharmonic and this season guest conducts the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Amsterdam's Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, San Francisco Symphony, and Dallas Symphony Orchestra, where he is Conductor Laureate. He has guest conducted the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Orchestre national de France, and London Symphony Orchestra.
In his inaugural season as New York Philharmonic Music Director, Jaap van Zweden conducts five World Premieres and symphonic cornerstones, and presides over pillars that contextualize music through programs complemented by citywide collaborations. Music of Conscience explores composers' responses to the social issues of their time; New York Stories: Threads of Our City looks at musical expressions of the immigrant experience in New York, centered on a premiere by Julia Wolfe; and The Art of Andriessen spotlights the music of Dutch composer Louis Andriessen. He also welcomes New Yorkers to Phil the Hall,for community and service professionals; the Annual Free Memorial Day Concert; and the Concerts in the Parks, Presented by Didi and Oscar Schafer.
Jaap van Zweden's acclaimed recordings include the February 2019 release of Stravinsky's Le Sacre du printemps and Debussy's La Mer, continuing the New York Philharmonic's partnership with Decca Gold. In 2018 he completed a four-year project with the Hong Kong Philharmonic and Naxos, conducting and recording the first-ever performances in Hong Kong of Wagner's Ring Cycle; his performance of Parsifal earned him the prestigious Edison Award for Best Opera Recording in 2012.
Born in Amsterdam, Jaap van Zweden was appointed at age 19 as the youngest-ever concertmaster of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. He began his conducting career almost 20 years later, in 1996, and was named Musical America'sConductor of the Year in 2012. He is Honorary Chief Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, where he served as Chief Conductor (2005 13); former Chief Conductor of the Royal Flanders Orchestra (2008 11); and former Music Director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (2008 18). He was the subject of a 60 Minutes profile on CBS in 2018.
In 1997 Jaap van Zweden and his wife, Aaltje, established the Papageno Foundation to support families of children with autism. Today, the Foundation focuses on the development of children and young adults with autism by providing in-home music therapy; developing funding opportunities for autism programs; opening the Papageno House in 2015 (with Her Majesty Queen Maxima in attendance), where young adults with autism live, work, and participate in the community; and creating a research center in the Papageno House for early diagnosis and treatment of autism and analyzing the effects of music therapy on autism. Most recently, the Foundation launched the app TEAMPapageno, which allows children with autism to communicate with each other through music composition.
Single tickets start at $49. (Ticket prices subject to change.) Tickets may be purchased online at nyphil.org or by calling (212) 875-5656, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday; 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Saturday; and noon to 5:00 p.m. Sunday. Tickets may also be purchased at the David Geffen Hall Box Office. The Box Office opens at 10:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday, and at noon on Sunday. On performance evenings, the Box Office closes one-half hour after performance time; other evenings it closes at 6:00 p.m.
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