Meet Yuja Wang

There are recordings of Rachmaninov playing his own compositions – are they an inspiration for your interpretations? Who else has inspired you?

Absolutely! I love Rachmaninov’s pure, noble and classy style. He had such incredible technique of course, too. He makes his concertos sound so simple, yet still incredibly sensitive. I’ve also listened to the Benno Moiseiwitsch performances of Rachmaninov and, although he didn’t play an awful lot of Rachmaninov, Glenn Gould has been a great influence on me generally.

There’s so much emotion in Rachmaninov’s music – do you find your own emotions on a particular day affect how you approach it?

Performances do end up being an expression of my mood in some ways, and it often enhances the emotion written in the music. This is so clear to me when I tour, performing the same piece of music with the same conductor and orchestra in different cities; I prepare differently each day as a result of many factors. Unlike most performers, the instrument I play is different in each venue and I like to spend some time working with it on stage to be sure that I find a way for it to capture the emotion and character of the music.

You have limited rehearsal time with each orchestra and conductor – how do you quickly establish a rapport with them?

It certainly helps if my intentions and understanding of the music are convincing and clear, both artistically and in terms of where the composer was in the particular time or place they were writing the work. When I first join a new orchestra and conductor, the musicians intuitively pick up on that very quickly and it’s reflected in the performance as a result.

You travel all over the world to perform – what do you enjoy most about coming to London?

I love to spend time walking around the cities I visit when I have time, and London is an amazing place for this. There are lots of parks (Hyde Park is probably my favourite), lots of culture and so many interesting things to see in every corner of the city.

What catches your eye in the rest of the Philharmonia’s London season?

February is a great month! I would be so excited to attend Music of Today: Bryce Dessner in February next year – he’s a great and forward-thinking composer! Also The Sea and the Land: Mendelssohn, Elgar and Dvořák, which Sir John Eliot Gardiner will conduct – I worked with him recently for the first time and the collaboration was a great experience. Pekka Kuusisto’s concert on 23 March caught my eye too, especially as it includes the UK premiere of Anna Clyne’s Clarinet Concerto.