Yuja Wang Packs a Wallop

While we have been to other SFS concerts featuring Yuja Wang in the past, we were especially eager to see her again after reading the profile in The New Yorker written by Janet Malcolm. (The snapshot was made of the photo shot by Pari Dukovic).

Wang’s rendering of  Shostakovich’s sardonic Piano Concerto No. 1 was original and deeply satisfying. Mark Inouye, the company’s brilliant lead trumpet player, also gave an inspired performance.

Ms Wang’s sole encore was a jazz-fused rendition of the Beethoven's Piano Sonata #18 (The Hunt) used to animate the Jean-Luc Godard film classic, All Boys Are Called Patrick. Perhaps the most sardonic movie ever made.

The evening began with Bright Sheng’s “Dream of the Red Chamber Overture. This was the world premiere commissioned by SFS. For those who missed the SanFrancisco Opera’s staging of this new masterpiece, this at least provided some exposure.

Ending the program was Stravinsky’s revolutionary ballet, The Firebird, and his symphonic poem inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s The Nightingale.