Wyatt Artists in Residence

Jump to:  The Path to Virtuosity    Andrés Díaz

 Yuja Wang
• Performance clips       • Website

“The arrival of Chinese-born pianist Yuja Wang on the musical scene is an exhilarating and unnerving development. To listen to her in action is to re-examine whatever assumptions you may have had about how well the piano can actually be played.”
– The San Francisco Chronicle

The Washington Post called Yuja’s Kennedy Center recital debut “jaw-dropping.”

Yuja is an exclusive recording artist for Deutsche Grammophon. Her debut recording, Sonatas & Etudes, released in the spring of 2009, “suggests a combination of blazing technique and a rare instinct for poetry” wrote Gramophone Magazine, which named Yuja the Classic FM Gramophone Awards 2009 Young Artist of the Year. Her second recording, Transformation, was released in spring of 2010 to great critical acclaim, and was selected by Gramophone Magazine as the July 2010 Record of the Month. Most recently, Yuja collaborated with Maestro Claudio Abbado and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra to record her first concerto album featuring Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and his Piano Concerto No .2 in C minor. This recording was released in spring 2011.

In the few short years since her 2005 debut with the National Arts Center Orchestra led by Pinchas Zukerman, for which the Canadian press reported “a star is born,” Yuja has already performed with many of the world’s prestigious orchestras including the Baltimore Symphony, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Houston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony, New World Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony, in the U.S., and abroad with the Tonhalle Orchestra, China Philharmonic, Filarmonica della Scala, Gulbenkian Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Nagoya Philharmonic, the NHK Symphony in Tokyo and Orchestra Mozart, among others.

In 2006 Yuja made her New York Philharmonic debut at the Bravo! Vail Music Festival and performed with the orchestra the following season under Lorin Maazel during the Philharmonic’s Japan/Korea visit. In 2008 Yuja toured the United States with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields led by Sir Neville Marriner and in 2009 she performed as a soloist with the You Tube Symphony Orchestra led by Michael Tilson Thomas at Carnegie Hall. She also toured the U.S. tour with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra led by Yu Long in honor of the orchestra’s 130th anniversary, and performed with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra conducted by Claudio Abbado in Beijing, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Spain and in London, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic.

Yuja has given recitals in major cities throughout North America and abroad, is a dedicated performer of chamber music, and makes regular appearances at festivals including the Aspen Festival, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Gilmore Festival and the Verbier Festival. She has worked with many of the world’s esteemed conductors including Claudio Abbado, Charles Dutoit, Daniele Gatti, Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur, Antonio Pappano, Yuri Temirkanov, Michael Tilson-Thomas and Pinchas Zukerman.

As her career continues to blossom, each season Yuja makes a number of important debuts, both with major orchestras and in recital. In the 2010/2011 season she made her debut with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra led by Danielle Gatti, Orchestre de Paris conducted by Juraj Valcuha, RAI Torino led by Mikko Franck, and Orquesta Nacional España and Berlin Staatskapelle, each conducted by Pietari Inkinen. Yuja also made recital debuts in Madrid and Tokyo. In the 2011-12 season Yuja will perform with the Israel Philharmonic, La Scala, London Symphony, NDR Symphony and Santa Cecilia in Europe, and the U.S. orchestras of New York, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles. She makes her Carnegie Hall (Stern Hall) in October 2011.

Born in Beijing in 1987, Yuja began studying piano at age six, with her earliest public performances taking place in China, Australia and Germany, and went on to study at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing under Ling Yuan and Zhou Guangren. Following three years (from 1999 to 2001) at Mount Royal Conservatory's  Morningside Music Bridge, an artistic and cultural exchange program between Canada and China, Yuja moved to Canada and began studying with Hung Kuan Chen and Tema Blackstone at the Mount Royal Conservatory. In 2002, when Yuja was 15, she won Aspen Music Festival’s concerto competition and moved to the U.S. to study with Gary Graffman at The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she graduated in 2008. In 2006 Yuja received the Gilmore Young Artist Award. In 2010 she was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant.

IN CONCERT OCTOBER 29, 2011

The Path to Virtuosity
• Performance clips       • Website

The Conservatory is delighted to showcase six of its remarkable students at the Path to Virtuosity concert.

Stephen Nguyen

Colleen Venables

Tate Zawadiuk

Six-year old cellist, Luka Coetzee has studied in the Academy of Music for one year with John Kadz. Twelve-year old violinist, Yan Li has studied under Bill van der Sloot for the past three years. Fourteen-year old cellist Tate Zawadiuk, a student of John Kadz, has participated in the Academy of Music for the past year. Fourteen-year old pianist Stephen Nguyen has studied with Glen Montgomery for the past four years. Fifteen-year old violinist Colleen Venables has been an Academy student for the past two years under the guidance of Bill van der Sloot. Sixteen year old cellist Paul van der Sloot has studied in the Academy of Music for the past seven years. He is a student of John Kadz.

The concert culminates with a scintillating performance by world-renowned violinist, Ning Feng.

“Ning communicates with immediacy and produces an extraordinary range of dynamics… all in immaculate intonation and phrasing... Paganini lives again.”
– Singapore Straits Times, May 2010

Chinese violinist NING FENG was born in Chengdu, and studied at the Sichuan Music Conservatory and the Royal Academy of Music. He is quickly developing a reputation as an extraordinary artist of great lyricism and emotional transparency, displaying tremendous bravura and awe-inspiring technical accomplishment.

Ning Feng has earned the admiration of a number of high profile artists including Iván Fischer, who remarked following Ning’s tour with the orchestra to Beijing in October 2010: “I found [Ning Feng] to be a special talent and an outstandingly musical artist. There is no doubt that he is a musician at the highest level and plays with genuine passion and a respect for the score. I recommend him without reservation.”

He won first prize in the 2006 Paganini Violin International Competition, and has also won prizes at the Hannover Competition, the Queen Elisabeth Competition, the Menuhin Competition, and first prize at the Michael Hill International Violin Competition.
Upcoming dates include concerts with the Lucerne Symphony (James Gaffigan) Hong Kong Philharmonic (Andreas Delfs), Galicia Symphony (Harth-Bedoya), NDR Hannover, and Calgary Philharmonic (Roberto Minczuk).

He will also appear at the Annecy, Colmar and Bad Kissingen Festivals this summer.
Ning Feng records for Channel Classics in the Netherlands. He is based in Berlin, and plays a Peter Stefan Greiner violin (Bonn 2007).

IN CONCERT NOVEMBER 27, 2011

Andrés Díaz
• Performance clips       • Website

“Everything Díaz does has personality and, better than that, character.”
– The Boston Globe

Since winning the First Prize in the 1986 Naumburg International Cello Competition, ANDRÉS DÍAZ has exhilarated both critics and audiences with his intense and charismatic performances. He has earned exceptional reviews for his “strongly personal interpretive vision” (The New York Times) and his “bold and imaginative” playing (The Boston Globe) and was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant as well as a generous grant from the Susan W. Rose Fund for Music in 1998.

Andrés Díaz’s numerous orchestral appearances have included return engagements with the Atlanta Symphony under the late conductor Robert Shaw; performances with the American Symphony at Carnegie Hall, the symphony orchestras of Milwaukee, Seattle, Rochester under Christopher Seaman, the Boston Pops and Esplanade Orchestras, the Chicago Symphony at the Ravinia Festival with Edo de Waart conducting, and the National Symphony Orchestra. Among the highlights of Mr. Díaz’s recent seasons are tours of Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, Hawaii, and Canada performing in recital and with orchestra; appearances in Chile, Venezuela, Argentina, the Dominican Republic; a series of concerts in the Soviet Union where he performed as soloist with Russia’s Saratov Symphony in the cities of Saratov and Moscow; and a tour of the major cities in New Zealand with the New Zealand Chamber Orchestra.

The young virtuoso is a sought-after recitalist and made his Alice Tully Hall debut in 1987 after winning the Naumburg International Cello Competition. He received critical praise for his second appearance at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall in 1989 when The New York Times remarked that his musical views “always seemed deeply considered rather than superficial or manufactured.” His recital appearances have included the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., Jordan Hall and the Gardner Museum in Boston, the Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, and the highly regarded San Francisco Performances Series.

Andrés Díaz frequently performed with the late pianist Samuel Sanders. The Díaz/Sanders Duo performed at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Hall in New York, the Philadelphia Arts Museum, Atlanta’s Spivey Hall and other venues across the U.S. and abroad. They appeared in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Colorado Springs, Detroit, and Japan, where they appeared at Tokyo’s Suntory Hall. Among other renowned pianists with whom Mr. Díaz has collaborated are Judith Gordon, Margo Garrett, Richard Goode, Mischa Dichter, and Anne-Marie McDermott.

During the summer of 2001, Mr. Díaz gave the world premiere of Gunther Schuller’s Concerto for Cello and Orchestra at the Brevard Music Center with the Brevard Festival Orchestra. In February 2001, Mr. Díaz performed the American premiere of Frank Bridge’s Oration for cello and orchestra at Boston University. Mr. Díaz has also premiered Thomas Oboe Lee’s Cello Concerto (written expressly for Díaz) with the Boston Civic Symphony, and he gave the Boston and Washington, D.C. premieres of Leon Kirchner’s Music for Cello and Orchestra. In that Boston performance, the composer conducted the work. Díaz later performed the piece with the National Symphony Orchestra, James Paul conducting, where it received the First Prize Friedham Award.

Andrés Díaz’s debut solo recording on MusicMasters of works by Manuel de Falla and Robert Schumann with pianist Samuel Sanders was acclaimed by The Boston Globe as “strong and subtle; everything Díaz does has personality and, better than that, character.” On the Dorian label, the two artists have also released Brahms’s Sonatas for Piano and Cello; Russian Romantics, a compilation of short Russian works; and most recently American Visions, featuring works of Barber, Bernstein and Foote. Mr. Díaz’s current orchestral solo release (also on the Dorian label) features the Villas-Lobos Cello Concerto No. 2 with the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra and conductor Enrique Diemecke. This recording won a 1996 Allegro Music Award for Best Orchestral Release. His latest recording, in memory of his collaborator pianist Samuel Sanders – featuring the works of Martinu, Lutoslawski, and Rachmaninoff – won The Classical Recording Foundation 2003 Award.

Mr. Diaz has just completed recording the six Bach Suites due out at the end of 2004. Mr. Díaz’s summer festival appearances (including frequent return engagements) include the Santa Fe, La Jolla, Marlboro, Ravinia, Bravo! Colorado, Spoleto, Saratoga and Tanglewood festivals. His appearances at Tanglewood earned him the Pierre Mayer Memorial Award for Outstanding String Player. He has toured nationally with the Santa Fe and Spoleto festivals. Other festival appearances include the Victoria (BC), Steamboat (Steamboat Springs, CO), Musicorda (MA), Rockport (MA) and Cape & Islands festivals.

Andrés Díaz is very active with the Díaz String Trio, featuring violinist Andrés Cardenes and violist Roberto Díaz. At Carnegie Hall in April 2003, the trio performed the world premiere of a string trio written for them by Gunther Schuller. The trio has performed in the cities of Pittsburgh, Washington, Boston, Los Angeles, Miami; at the Kuhmo Festival in Finland and the International Festival of St. Cypriene in France; and they have toured extensively in South America, Mexico and Canada. The trio was invited by Isaac Stern to play at Carnegie Hall’s Centennial Celebration, and from 1994-96 it served as Trio in Residence at the Florida International University. They released its first recording featuring the music of Paganini on the Dorian label. A second recording is due for release in 2003 featuring music by Penderecki, Dohnayi, Beethoven.

Andrés Díaz was born in Santiago, Chile in 1964, and began studying the cello at the age of five. Three years later he moved to Atlanta, Georgia and studied at the Georgia Academy of Music with Martha Gerchefski.

Mr. Díaz graduated from the New England Conservatory where he worked with Laurence Lesser and Colin Carr, and currently plays an active role in chamber music performances with the Conservatory’s faculty.

He served for five years as Associate Professor of Cello at the Boston University and Co-Director of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Quartet Program, resigning in September 2001. Mr. Díaz now lives in Dallas, Texas with his wife, Julie, and sons Peter Manuel and Gabriel Andrés. Presently, he is Associate Professor at Southern Methodist University. Mr. Díaz plays a 1698 Matteo Goffriller Cello and a bow made by his father, Manuel Díaz.

IN CONCERT MARCH 31, 2012

 2010 / 11 Wyatt Series brochure

View the 2011/2012 Wyatt Artist in Residence Concert Series brochure (pdf format)

Back to top