Yuja Wang: ‘The best motivation? When guys are being assholes…’

The young Chinese pianist, whose patience is as short as her skirt, opens a fascinating new series of Zsolt Bognar’s ‘Living the Classical Life’. It is a remarkably intimate and reflective self-portrait at the piano.

What will surprise people? asks Zsolt, a fellow-pianist.

‘That I have no boyfriend?’ laughs Yuja. ‘That I like girls?… That’s pretty dumb, the question.’

‘What do you want most in life that you don’t have?’

‘Lots of things. Louboutin shoes…. Also lots of feelings, a certain quality of life that I can’t have because of my lifestyle. I’d love to be on vacation for a year.’

She’s fabulously entertaining. But she goes very introspective when she talks about working with Claudio Abbado.

Zsolt’s interview website launches next week, when the Yuja interview will go on Youtube. This is an exclusive preview for Slippedisc.com readers.

Watch. Enjoy.