

Radu Lupu, one of the performing artists at the Mozartwoche.


One of the performing artists at the Mozartwoche.

In the last decade or so the growth of technical proficiency among young pianists has seemed exponential. The new generation that can play anything includes Yuja Wang.
Photo: Felix Broede/Deutsche Grammophon
THE latest young pianist from China to excite classical music audiences and earn raves from critics is the 24-year-old Yuja Wang, a distinctive artist with a comprehensive technique. That Ms. Wang is already a musician of consequence was made clear this year when Deutsche Grammophon released her first recording with an orchestra: performances of Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and Second Piano Concerto with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. The conductor is Claudio Abbado, no less, a towering maestro who is extremely discriminating in his choice of collaborators.
Date: December 30th, 2011
Tags: piano

Winning pianist Daniil Trifonov of Russia performs during the Tchaikovsky.
Photograph: Dmitry Lovetsky/AP
It’s the fiercest, sweatiest, most nerve-shredding competition in the classical world. Tom Service reports from Moscow


One of the performing artists of Lucerne Festival at the Piano.


A piece performed by our “Artist of the Month” Alice Sara Ott.


One of the performing artists of Lucerne Festival at the Piano.


One of the performing artists of Dvořák Prague Festival.

Christopher Shih, a doctor from Maryland, won the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs held in Fort Worth last month.
Credit: Rodger Mallison/Van Cliburn Foundation
The crowd is taking over. Tasks that have traditionally been performed by highly skilled professionals are increasingly being outsourced to the masses, often with surprising results. And it’s not only production that is being crowd sourced. Judgments about the quality of that production, traditionally determined by experts, are also being turned over to the crowd. Champions of crowd sourcing claim that tapping the talents of the many, even the amateur or untrained many, can often meet or surpass the efforts of the expert few.


One of the performing artists of Edinburgh International Festival