CELEBRATING MTT WITH YUJA WANG to be Presented At Walt Disney Concert Hall

​On February 1, renowned pianist Yuja Wang will join the Los Angeles Philharmonic and conductor Michael Tilson Thomas for a program titled “Celebrating MTT with Yuja Wang.” 

Michael Tilson Thomas has been part of the LA Phil family for more than five decades and in honor of his 80th birthday, the orchestra celebrates its former Principal Guest Conductor with selections of his music and other classic gems alongside the world-renowned pianist, whose collaborations in concert with Tilson Thomas have spanned two decades. 

Kicking off the evening with what Tilson Thomas calls “alternately elegant and goofball percussion entrances,” he conducts his jubilant Agnegram, followed by an impression of Spain in Debussy's Ibéria. 

Yuja Wang joins Tilson Thomas at the piano for Poulenc's devilishly witty Sonata for Four Hands. The duo will then channel the energy of the swing era with the original jazz band version of Gershwin's ever-popular Rhapsody in Blue and Tilson Thomas' “boogie-woogie-esque” You Come Here Often? that is “tailor-made for the sharp, percussive playing of Yuja.” (San Francisco Classical Voice). The program closes with Britten's The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. 

Tickets are available for purchase online at laphil.com or by phone at 323-850-2000. Programs, artists, dates, prices and availability are subject to change. 

Program

Celebrating MTT with Yuja Wang 

Saturday, February 1, 2025 at 8PM 

Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor 

Yuja Wang, piano 

Michael Tilson Thomas  Agnegram 

DEBUSSY   Ibéria 

Intermission 

POULENC  Sonata for Four Hands 

GERSHWIN Rhapsody in Blue (Original Jazz Band Version) 

Michael Tilson Thomas  You Come Here Often? 

BRITTEN  The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra 

ABOUT Yuja Wang 

Pianist Yuja Wang is celebrated for her charismatic artistry, emotional honesty and captivating stage presence. She has performed with the world's most venerated conductors, musicians and ensembles, and is renowned not only for her virtuosity, but her spontaneous and lively performances, famously telling the New York Times, “I firmly believe every program should have its own life and be a representation of how I feel at the moment.” 

Her skill and charisma were recently demonstrated in a marathon Rachmaninoff performance at Carnegie Hall alongside conductor Yannick Nézet-SéguinYo and Philadelphia Orchestra. This historic event celebrating 150 years since the birth of Rachmaninoff, included performances of all four of his concertos plus the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini in one afternoon and saw queues around the block for tickets on the day. The 2022/23 season also saw Yuja perform the world premiere of Magnus Lindberg's Piano Concerto No. 3 with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, with further performances of the work throughout North America and Europe across the season. 

Yuja was born into a musical family in Beijing. After childhood piano studies in China, she received advanced training in Canada and at the Curtis Institute of Music under Gary Graffman. Her international breakthrough came in 2007, when she replaced Martha Argerich as soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Two years later, she signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon and has since established her place among the world's leading artists, with a succession of critically acclaimed performances and recordings. She was named Musical America's Artist of the Year in 2017, and in 2021 received an Opus Klassik Award for her world-premiere recording of John Adams' “Must the Devil Have all the Good Tunes?” with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel. 

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