Yuja Wang, proclaims the San Francisco Classical Voice, is an “exceptionally gifted debutant.” On the heels of a February 2008 performance in the California city’s Herbst Theatre in which the Chinese artist ripped through finger-breaking arrangements from such monoliths as Liszt, Bartok, Ravel and Rimsky-Korsakov, the publication detailed how “Wang put the audience under her spell with her controlled, precise pianism, which was both warm and richly colored.”
High Country residents have the chance to hear this internationally acclaimed and multi-award-winning musician when she takes center stage for one night only, August 10 at 7:30pm, at the Hayes Performing Arts Center, 152 Jamie Fort Road (off Hwy 321), Blowing Rock, N.C. The concert is a fundraiser for the Mariam & Robert Hayes Performing Arts Center. Proceeds will benefit the Center’s Capital Fund (retirement of the construction debt and maintenance of the facility), Education Endowment (continuation and expansion of TOPs and arts outreach and programming) and General Fund (operations of the Center and enhancing the annual budget). A second fundraiser, a concert by the classical trio Time for Three, who, like Yuja, are brought here with the help of local opera singer Brenda Boozer, will be held August 18.
Born in Beijing in 1987, Yuja began studying music at age 6 and was drawn to the piano. Eventually enrolling at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, her earliest public performances took place in China, Australia and Germany, and she quickly began accumulating a surplus of international accolades and awards. Alongside her celebrated performance with the San Francisco Symphony, Yuja has already made a number of illustrious debuts with other esteemed symphonies such as Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Tonhalle Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, China Philharmonic, Nagoya Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Kansas City Symphony, St. Petersburg Philharmonic and the Chicago Symphony, among multiple others, and is a regular participant at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival.
In the summers of 2002 and 2003, she worked with renowned piano pedagogue John Perry at the Aspen Music Festival, where she won the concerto competition in her first year of attendance. For the past 4 years, Yuja has attended The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, as a student of Gary Graffman. In September 2005, she also received the prestigious 2006 Gilmore Young Artist Award.
Tickets for Yuja Wang are $75 (for a limited amount of prime seats) and $50 (for general seating), and are available now by calling the Box Office at 828-295-9627. A fundraising package ticket for both Yuja Wang and Time for Three (on August 18) are available at $125.You may pay by credit card or by cash (in person). Tickets can also be purchased online at www.HayesCenter.org by credit card. Special group rates are also available. Season and Flex Passes can be purchased and used throughout the entire '08 season.