Jian Wang (cellist)
Encyclopedia
Jian Wang began to study the cello with his father when he was four. While a student at the Shanghai Conservatoire, he was featured in the celebrated documentary film From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China. Mr Stern's encouragement and support paved the way for him to go to the United States and in 1985 he entered the Yale School of Music under a special programme where he studied with the renowned cellist Aldo Parisot.
Jian Wang has since performed with many of the world’s leading orchestras including the Cleveland, Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston and Detroit Symphonies, Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, London Symphony, the BBC orchestras, Zurich Tonhalle, Gothenburg Symphony, Stockholm Philharmonic, Santa Cecilia, La Scala, Mahler Chamber, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre de Paris, Czech Philhamonic, and NHK Symphony. These concerts have been with many of the greatest conductors, such as Abbado, Sawallisch, Jarvi, Chailly, Dutoit, Eschenbach, Chung, Alan Gilbert and Gustavo Dudamel.
Jian Wang has made many recordings, his latest release being an album of short pieces for Cello and Guitar titled “Reverie”. He has also recorded the complete Bach Cello Suites and a Baroque Album with the Camerata Salzburg; Brahms Double Concerto with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Claudio Abbado and Gil Shaham, the Haydn Concerti with the Gulbenkian Orchestra under Muhai Tang, Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time (with Myung-Whun Chung, Gil Shaham and Paul Meyer) and Brahms, Mozart and Schumann chamber music with Pires and Dumay. His instrument is graciously loaned to him by the family of the late Mr. Sau-Wing Lam.
Jian Wang has since performed with many of the world’s leading orchestras including the Cleveland, Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston and Detroit Symphonies, Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, London Symphony, the BBC orchestras, Zurich Tonhalle, Gothenburg Symphony, Stockholm Philharmonic, Santa Cecilia, La Scala, Mahler Chamber, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre de Paris, Czech Philhamonic, and NHK Symphony. These concerts have been with many of the greatest conductors, such as Abbado, Sawallisch, Jarvi, Chailly, Dutoit, Eschenbach, Chung, Alan Gilbert and Gustavo Dudamel.
Jian Wang has made many recordings, his latest release being an album of short pieces for Cello and Guitar titled “Reverie”. He has also recorded the complete Bach Cello Suites and a Baroque Album with the Camerata Salzburg; Brahms Double Concerto with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Claudio Abbado and Gil Shaham, the Haydn Concerti with the Gulbenkian Orchestra under Muhai Tang, Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time (with Myung-Whun Chung, Gil Shaham and Paul Meyer) and Brahms, Mozart and Schumann chamber music with Pires and Dumay. His instrument is graciously loaned to him by the family of the late Mr. Sau-Wing Lam.
Recordings
- "Presenting Jian Wang" (Delos Records, 1992)
- Brahms - "Piano Trios" with Maria João PiresMaria João Pires-Musical studies:Her first recital was at the age of five, and at the age of seven she was already playing Mozart Piano Concertos publicly. Two years later she received Portugal's top prize for young musicians. In the following years, she studied with Professor Campos Coelho at the Lisbon...
in the piano and Augustin Dumay in the violin (Deutsche Grammophon, 1995) - Mozart - "Piano Trios K.496 & K.502" with Maria João PiresMaria João Pires-Musical studies:Her first recital was at the age of five, and at the age of seven she was already playing Mozart Piano Concertos publicly. Two years later she received Portugal's top prize for young musicians. In the following years, she studied with Professor Campos Coelho at the Lisbon...
in the piano and Augustin Dumay in the violin (Deutsche Grammophon, 1997) - "Haydn Cello Concertos" Muhai TangMuhai TangMuhai Tang is a Chinese conductor. He is the youngest son of celebrated Chinese film director Tang Xiaodan and brother of painter and poet Tang Muli....
,(Deutsche Grammophon, 1999) - "Olivier MessiaenOlivier MessiaenOlivier Messiaen was a French composer, organist and ornithologist, one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex ; harmonically and melodically it is based on modes of limited transposition, which he abstracted from his early compositions and improvisations...
: Quartet for the End of Time" with Gil ShahamGil Shaham-Biography:Gil Shaham was born in Urbana, Illinois, while his parents, Israeli scientists, were on an academic fellowship at the University of Illinois. His father Jacob was an astrophysicist, and his mother, Meira Diskin, was a cytogeneticist. His sister is the pianist Orli Shaham. He is a...
, Paul MeyerPaul Meyer (clarinetist)Paul Meyer is a French clarinetist.Meyer is possibly the most well-known contemporary solo clarinetist from France. He is known for his solo recordings on the Denon label, notably in collaborations with Jean-Pierre Rampal and Eric Le Sage. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire and at the Basler...
and Myung-Whun ChungMyung-Whun ChungMyung-whun Chung is a South Korean pianist and conductor.His sisters, violinist Kyung-wha Chung, and cellist Myung-wha Chung, and he at one time performed together as the Chung Trio. He was a joined second-prize winner in the 1974 International Tchaikovsky Competition. Chung studied conducting at...
(Deutsche Grammophon, 2001) - "Brahms Double Concerto" Gil ShahamGil Shaham-Biography:Gil Shaham was born in Urbana, Illinois, while his parents, Israeli scientists, were on an academic fellowship at the University of Illinois. His father Jacob was an astrophysicist, and his mother, Meira Diskin, was a cytogeneticist. His sister is the pianist Orli Shaham. He is a...
, Claudio AbbadoClaudio AbbadoClaudio Abbado, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI , is an Italian conductor. He has served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Vienna State Opera,...
, Berlin Philharmonic(Deutsche Grammophon, 2001) - "The Baroque Album" (Deutsche Grammophon, 2003)
- "JS BachJohann Sebastian BachJohann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
: The Unaccompanied Cello Suites" (Deutsche Grammophon, 2005) - "Reverie" with the guitarist Göran SöllscherGöran SöllscherGöran Söllscher is a Swedish award-winning virtuoso classical guitarist known for his broad range of musical interpretations, ranging from Bach to the Beatles...
(Deutsche Grammophon, 2007)
External links
- Standard short biography of Jian Wang on the site of Deutsche GrammophonDeutsche GrammophonDeutsche Grammophon is a German classical record label which was the foundation of the future corporation to be known as PolyGram. It is now part of Universal Music Group since its acquisition and absorption of PolyGram in 1999, and it is also UMG's oldest active label...
- Jian Wang: An Extraordinary Journey by Andrew Palmer, excerpted from Strings magazine, January 2001, No. 91
- A Night to Remember: Jian Wang and the BBC Proms by Pamela Yau, Dimsum.co.uk, October 2008