Yuja Wang plays Bartók

The fabulous pianist Yuja Wang is Konserthuset Stockholm’s special Artist-in-Residence this season. She appears with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra at these two concerts, and previously in a duo programme with violinist Leonidas Kavakos, as well as in a piano recital this weekend.

She is still relatively young (born 1987), but she is an incomparable virtuoso in her playing. Yet this is not all there is to say about her artistry, for beyond her technique, her interpretations are imbued with sensitivity and musical maturity. Yuja Wang is, in short, an enchanting virtuoso artist with an incredibly powerful draw. Her first guest performance at Stockholm Concert Hall was in January 2013, when she gave a piano recital.

Here, she will solo with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in Bartók’s Third Piano Concerto, a work he wrote with his wife Ditte’s soft touch in mind. He worked on the music from his sickbed and died shortly after it was completed. After the final note, he wrote “vége”, Hungarian for “end”. Compared with the two earlier piano concertos, the musicality here is more rounded, and even more lyrical.

The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra will begin the evening with the co-commissioned work Vivo from 2015, composed by Magnus Lindberg (who was featured at Stockholm Concert Hall’s Composer Festival with Kaija Saariaho in 2002). “Concert opening for orchestra”, reads the subtitle.

Last in the programme, we will hear Schumann’s Symphony No. 3. The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and Oramo have recently received wide acclaim for their Schumann interpretations (all four symphonies were recorded for the record label Sony). “With this recording, Sakari Oramo has placed himself at the front of the pack with the greatest Schumann interpreters!” wrote a German critic.