Yuja Wang lands a job

Yuja Wang lands a job

News

norman lebrecht

June 06, 2023

The Chinese-American pianist, 36, has been awarded her first salaried position.

She was named today as Artistic Partner of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and says: ‘I am happy to continue my exploration of play-conducting with the wonderful musicians of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, which I hope will create some unforgettable musical experiences.’

They will make an inaugural tour in January 2024 with music by Stravinsky, Janáček and Gershwin.

Smart move by the MCO.

It needs a change of name: Mahler never wrote anything for chamber ensemble.

Comments

  • Jean-Marc says:

    There is one early chamber music piece by Gustav Mahler, only one movement :
    Quartet Movement for Piano, Violin, Viola and Cello in A Minor. I recommend listening!

  • Tony Sanderson says:

    There are alway’s Schoenberg’s reduced scoring of Mahler symphonies for chamber orchestra. Scotlan’s Mahler Players have hit on this.

    https://mahlerplayers.co.uk/mahler-in-miniature/

  • Robert Holmén says:

    We were all so worried that she’d never find a steady job.

  • Michael says:

    What on earth are you talking about? Since when is the Artistic Partner role with the MCO salaried? You are aware that Daniele Gatti, Daniel Harding, Mitsuko Uchida and Pekka Kuusisto also hold that same title with the MCO, yes?

    Meanwhile, I suppose given Ralph Waldo Emerson’s lack of chamber music output, you would have recommended the Emerson String Quartet change its name too?

  • Rachel Bee says:

    Mahler wrote a piano quartet in his young days. Does that count?

  • David Smith says:

    Don’t forget Mahler wrote a piano quartet…

  • Julieanna says:

    A new swimming outfit for pianists?!

    (Couldn’t her outfit have been a little more modest?)

    Interesting, tho….now back to what really counts, her music!

    • Maria says:

      Thought she had got a job with one of those flashy fashion magazines in a thong!! Nice to see the music and the composer for once come first with her and not the latest revealing show-off and distracting get-up.

  • Mr. Ron says:

    What’s to get excited about? The Mahler Chamber Orchestra plays music by Stravinsky, Janáček and Gershwin. No Mahler?

    • Harry Collier says:

      Herr Mahler does not appeal to many (most?) of us. Nine gigantic symphonies, some good songs .. and not much else. Look around, and there are many superior composers. Even Otto Klemperer, a Mahler acolyte, did not conduct most of Mahler’s symphonies.

  • Una says:

    Exactly, why Mahler in this instance!!!

  • Paul Joschak says:

    How the hell does she pedal in 7 inch stillettos?

  • Monty Earleman says:

    Mahler? I hardly KNOW er!

  • Music Lover says:

    From now on she will get a steady income!

  • Leslie A says:

    Quintet or quartet? Excellent

  • JG says:

    Incorrect! Mahler wrote a movement of a piano quartet.

  • Leslie A says:

    Not important if Mahler did not compose chamber music. Except one movement for quintet which is delightful. He was a GREAT composer, and as such, the name of any ensemble would be proud.

  • Nathaniel Curzon says:

    Well Emerson didn’t write many string quartets. But its still a good name.

    • Herr Forkenspoon says:

      In Paris, at one time in the 2000’s, there was a Neidorf String Quartet, and I’ve never been able to find a composer named Neidorf. Drummers, Saxophone player, lawyers, Professors, Artist, no Composers.

  • Hans-Dieter Glaubke says:

    Certainly, much ado about nothing concerning a name.

  • Sue Sonata Form says:

    I’m glad she’s got a job. That ought to put food on the table!!!

  • Karin Becker says:

    A smart move by the MCO? Why? Because it guarantees sold-out concert halls?

    Has YW already chosen her wardrobe? There are sure to be plenty of costumes and outfits with generous back collars that allow glimpses of her internationally admired back muscles. We’re looking forward to it.

    Her attempts at conducting so far have been ridiculous, but this pull-out doll of the music business has never protected herself from ridicule.

  • Karin Becker says:

    Why does Yuja Wang wear high heels?
    The pianist wears high heels for more than just fashion reasons.

    Susanne Kübler
    When Chinese pianist Yuja Wang performs, there are usually two topics in the intermission conversations: First, her breathtaking virtuosity. And second, her breathtaking wardrobe.

    https://www.tonhalle-orchester.ch/news/frage-15-warum-traegt-yuja-wang-high-heels/

    Why does Yuja Wang wear high heels?
    The pianist wears high heels not only for fashion reasons.

    Susanne Kübler

    Her shoes, in particular, always raise eyebrows: is it even possible to play the piano in such high heels? Even if it is obvious that Yuja Wang can – the accusation that she is literally aiming too high with her “fashionably questionable foot appendages” (NZZ am Sonntag) has accompanied her entire career.

    Yet Yuja Wang’s stilts are not only about fashion, but also about anatomical questions. One only has to observe how she sits at the piano: back, pelvis, arms, thighs – everything is in perfect balance. Her posture allows her maximum freedom of movement, maximum elegance as well. As difficult as the works she plays are: she seems to master them with remarkable ease.

    158 cm plus heel
    This is not self-evident. A grand piano is a grand piano, there are standard sizes – and they are a challenge for pianists who do not have a standard size. You can see it with the particularly tall performers, who often sit rather crookedly behind the keys. Yuja Wang, on the other hand, is shorter than average at 1.58 m, and with flat shoes (in which she can certainly be found off the podium) she would have exactly two options:

    Either she would have to give up her ideal posture – or she wouldn’t get her heels on the floor.

    The heels now provide her with exactly the few centimeters of height she needs to play. At the same time, they shape her pedaling technique: anyone who operates the pedal with flat shoes and thus from a foot flex position, so to speak, from below, experiences completely different stresses on muscles and tendons than Yuja Wang, who presses the pedal from above with an extended foot. Both variants have advantages and disadvantages – and female pianists have the opportunity to choose the one that suits them better (while male pianists solve a possible problem with a board under the heel of their flat shoes).

    That Yuja Wang then chooses not only high heels, but also likes to wear particularly narrow, brightly colored, shiny heels: That’s another topic.

    Now we are looking forward to conductor Yuja Wang and her art of standing on 14 – 20 cm high heels of stilettos.

  • Karin Becker says:

    The MOC’s website and the Chinese pianist’s website indicate that Wang will conduct the orchestra from the piano. She already did that at the Lucerne Festival in 2021. So she will not descend from her kothurn (= her stilettos) and stand in front of the orchestra. In this way, part of the conducting will probably be done by the concertmaster.

  • Mathieu says:

    Mahler always insisted that his lieder cycles (except the Lied der Erde obvs) should be played by a chamber orchestra.

  • YJWMaestra says:

    Yuja Wang will make a great conductor.

  • Ivann says:

    You got to give it to her: She looks precious in high heel stilettos like no other artist

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