Yuja Wang

THE 30-YEAR-OLD CERTAINLY ISN’T YOUR AVERAGE CLASSICAL PIANIST. HERE, YUJA EXPLAINS HOW MUSIC HAS SHAPED HER LIFE, AND WHY SHE RATES LADY GAGA’S PIANO SKILLS

Playing the piano is like talking or eating for me. I’ve been doing it since I was six, so I don’t find it tiring. Going to the airport and trying to catch a flight is far more exhausting than playing a concert.

When I played with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra in Venezuela earlier this year, the other instrumentalists were my age and we had a lot of fun – we partied so much. I sound like an old woman thinking back to her twenties, but I had a great time and played two of the most challenging concertos that exist.

To me, music is sometimes like a smell. When you smell a certain scent, everything comes back to you. When I hear recordings of myself playing, it has that effect on me.

Before the age of 10, I had never really listened to music. We didn’t have any CDs, so I would listen to The Beatles on cassette. Then, in my teens and early twenties, I listened to music all the time: Rihanna, Lady Gaga and a lot of Bruno Mars. But now I’m on the road so much, it’s sometimes nice to just have silence and give myself a bit of space.

I’m not critical of pop stars who play the piano, such as Lady Gaga. I’m actually very impressed by them. They didn’t have to practise for hours and hours: it looks like it comes naturally to them. It’s such a different thing. I read a score, and then I just play what’s written. Much of what I do when I perform is an interpretation of what’s on the score, whereas they hear their own music in their head and then translate that into playing the keyboard, which I find really impressive.

It’s hard to escape the fact that people always talk about what I wear at a concert. It can be annoying, but I’m learning to let it go. In my twenties, I’d put on a really tight Hervé Léger dress and little heels, and it would look like I was about to go out to a bar. And then I would play a concert and people were really shocked. For me, going to a concert is almost the same as going to a bar. It’s like, “We’re going to have fun.” But concertgoers don’t think like that. They think classical music has to be really serious.

I’m superstitious about the dresses I wear when I perform. I was once so excited to wear a new dress, and then I played a shit concert and I swore never to wear that dress again, like it was the dress’s fault. What I wear can boost my confidence, and that translates to the music.

People always comment on my heels. They can’t understand how I can use the pedals in them, but if they paid closer attention they would see I always wear the same pair of shoes, because I know exactly how high and comfortable they are.

Doing what I do, I could never have a normal dating life. It would be like, “OK, I had a great time. I’ll see you in a month.” That would never work. Being a classical pianist means being a little all over the place. One day you’re in a dressing room and being adored by fans and audiences, and then you go back to the hotel, and the next morning you’re in an airport being stripped by security people and nobody knows who you are. It’s just up and down. Psychologically, that’s exhausting.

In my twenties, I would party and then play the next day, but more and more I can see that if I don’t get enough sleep for a few nights, it affects my playing. I’m trying to find more of a balance between having fun and taking care of myself now.

Yuja Wang is part of Rolex and ELLE’s ‘Inspiring Stories’ video series. To watch hers, stay tuned at elleuk.com/ the-inspiring-stories

‘IT’S HARD TO ESCAPE THE FACT THAT PEOPLE TALK ABOUT WHAT I WEAR AT A CONCERT. IT CAN BE ANNOYING’