YUJA WANG -was born in Beijing in 1987.
Starting at age fifteen, she studied for five years with Gary Graffman, who was also Lang Lang's teacher, at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and graduated in May 2008. She is increasing the number of concerts she is playing, and has "developed a novel reputation" of replacing sick pianists, yet going on "to deliver a knockout performance."

In 2006-2007, she performed with the New York Philharmonic, the Houston Symphony, the Chicago Symphony, and San Francisco Symphony, the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Japan, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic in the Netherlands, the China Philharmonic in Beijing and the Guangzhou Symphony and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival.

In March 2007, Yuja Wang replaced the legendary pianist Martha Argerich in concerts held in Boston.[6] Argerich had cancelled her appearances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra on four subscription concerts from March 8 to March 13.[6] Yuja Wang performed Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, with Charles Dutoit conducting, receiving highly favorable reviews.

On March 14, 2007, Wang was featured on National Public Radio's All Things Considered program.

Wang played twice in Albuquerque in summer 2007,and three concerts in Kansas City with its Symphony in November 2007.

On January 21, 2008, Yuja Wang played at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, MI and, to standing ovations, returned to the stage repeatedly for a triple encore that included Gluck's Mélodie from Orfeo (Yuja’s transcription, after Sgambati), Turkish March by Mozart (Volodos's transcription), and Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumblebee (Cziffra's virtuosic arrangement).

On April 2, 2008, Yuja Wang played with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields in Boston Symphony Hall, on a concert originally scheduled to be conducted from the keyboard by Murray Perahia.

She recently performed in the 2008 Verbier Festival to great acclaim.

Charles-Valentin Alkan

Charles-Valentin Alkan (Paris, 30 de novembro de 1813 – 29 de março de 1888) foi um compositor francês judeu do período romântico e um dos maiores pianistas de seu tempo. Suas composições para o instrumento são algumas das mais difíceis já escritas, desafiando virtuosi até os dias de hoje.
Nascido Charles-Henri-Valentin Morhange, Alkan adotou o primeiro nome do pai, professor de música, como seu sobrenome. Foi um prodígio. Entrou no Conservatório de Paris aos seis anos de idade, onde estudou órgão e piano. Aos nove anos, Luigi Cherubini descreveu sua técnica e habilidade como extraordinárias. Seu opus 1 data de 1828, quando possuía apenas 14 anos.
Foi amigo de Frédéric Chopin, George Sand, Victor Hugo e Franz Liszt, que certa vez disse que Alkan possuía a mais perfeita técnica que ele já tinha visto. Isolou-se quase completamente quando possuía por volta de 25 anos de idade, devido a diversos problemas pessoais. Viveu assim até quase o final de sua vida.
Pouco se sabe sobre este período da vida de Alkan, exceto que estudou profundamente o Talmud e a Bíblia, tendo completado a tradução para o francês tanto do Antigo quanto do Novo Testamento, a partir de suas línguas originais. Assim como muitas de suas composições, essas traduções foram perdidas. Entre as obras que não sobreviveram ao tempo, há sextetos para cordas e uma sinfonia para orquestra completa.
Acredita-se que o pianista Elie-Miriam Delaborde (1839–1913) tenha sido filho ilegítimo de Alkan. Aprendeu a tocar com o suposto pai, além de ter apresentado e editado muitas de suas obras.
Charles-Valentin Alkan morreu em Paris aos 74 anos. Por muitos anos acreditou-se que sua morte foi causada pela queda de uma estante em sua casa, fato que Hugh MacDonald provou ser falso em 1978. Alkan está enterrado no Cemitério de Montmartre

NIKITA MAGALOFF, an Old Style Pianist

Nikita Magaloff (Born Magalashvili) (21 February 1912 - 26 December 1992) was a Georgian-Russian pianist.
He was born to a Georgian noble family in St. Petersburg. Magaloff and his family left Russia in 1918 for Finland and then Paris, where he studied with Isidor Philipp. He also numbered Ravel and Prokofiev among his friends there.
He was best known for his espousal of the music of Chopin, recording the complete piano works - the first time anyone had done so. While these recordings have been criticised for their failure to plumb the depths of Chopin's works, they were innovative for their textual fidelity and unsentimentality. Magaloff, for example, preferred and recorded Chopin's own manuscript versions of the valses rather than the familiar versions published posthumously by Julian Fontana.
His interpretations of Mendelssohn are also striking, finding a vein of melancholy that is often missed.
Magaloff's playing carried the hallmarks of Philipp's elegant, refined style, though he himself rejected the sentimental interpretations of Philipp's generation (he was especially critical of Paderewski whom he believed had "falsified Chopin"). He once described himself to the critic and writer Piero Rattalino as 'a vieux style pianist'.
His playing, however, underwent a change in his later years, becoming more passionate, daring and challenging. He remarked, in an interview with Eugenio Scalfari "at the age of seventy, I have come to the conclusion that only the sentiment and fear of death can induce an immoderate passion for life." His last recordings bear eloquent tribute to this 'immoderate passion for life'.
In 1949 he took over his friend and colleague Dinu Lipatti’s master class at the Geneva Conservatory after Lipatti’s early death, and continued teaching until 1960. Among his many pupils are the Argentine pianist Martha Argerich, the Italian pianist Maria Tipo, the Polish-Austrian pianist Ingrid Haebler and the organist Lionel Rogg.
Nikita Magaloff was married to Irene, the daughter of the violinist Joseph Szigeti. He died in Vevey on 26 December 1992.
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