Yuja Wang's October Run: Play-Conducting Both Brahms Concertos in Louisville, Then On to Rotterdam and Luxembourg
Pianist Yuja Wang's October calendar spans three cities, all built around the same programme. From October 8 to 10, she played three consecutive nights of "Yuja Wang Plays Brahms" with the Louisville Orchestra at the Ogle Center at Indiana University Southeast in New Albany, Indiana, starting at 7:30 p.m. each evening. Performing and conducting from the keyboard, she played both of Brahms's piano concertos in a single concert — No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15, and No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 83. Written more than two decades apart, the two works are rarely performed together in one evening, which the orchestra billed as an exceptional undertaking.
Wang has a long history with the Louisville Orchestra: her album The American Project, recorded with the orchestra and conductor Teddy Abrams, won the 2024 Grammy Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo. Orchestra CEO Jude Vaclavik said Wang shares an extraordinary level of trust and musical understanding with the ensemble; her 2025 appearances in Louisville sold more than 4,000 tickets. The move to the smaller Ogle Center for three nights was designed as a more intimate setting.
On October 15 and 16 at 8:15 p.m., Wang moved on to the Grote Zaal of de Doelen in Rotterdam, performing the same pair of concertos with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra — this time under conductor Tarmo Peltokoski, with Wang as soloist only; the orchestra's agenda listed the October 16 performance as sold out. On October 17 at 7:30 p.m., the same combination repeated the programme at the Philharmonie Luxembourg, closing this leg of the tour.
Born in Beijing in 1987, Wang studied at the Central Conservatory of Music and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and records for Deutsche Grammophon. Her Los Angeles appearances at Walt Disney Concert Hall earlier this month were reported separately; this roundup completes the record of her mid-October touring. (GSM, based on official materials from the Louisville Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic and the Philharmonie Luxembourg)
Related:
Yuja Wang Plays Barber in Three-Night Disney Hall Stand With LA Phil
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：王羽佳2021年在卢森堡演出。图片来源：Wikimedia Commons（CC BY 2.0）。Photo: Yuja Wang performing in Luxembourg in 2021. Source: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0).
