Lightroom Live: Yuja Wang x Hockney | A virtuoso pianist meets an immersive art show
Here’s one to file under ‘unusual’.
For three days in September Yuja Wang – one of the most acclaimed & revered classical pianists in the world – will play a series of live concerts in the extraordinary Lightroom, surrounded by David Hockney’s awe-inspiring exhibition of large scale immersive art.
Basically, both your eyes and your ears are going to be competing to see which of them is more blown away by the whole affair.
It’s all off the back of an inaugural set of concerts she played here last year, which by all accounts went down an absolute treat. And if by some chance you don’t happen to follow the elite classical virtuoso pianist scene, allow us to give you a brief resumé as to just who Yuja Wang is. The short version is that she started winning international awards as a teenager, and has never stopped since. She’s worked with the best conductors in the business and been hailed by critics (the San Francisco Chronicle says she is “quite simply, the most dazzlingly, uncannily gifted pianist in the concert world today”). But her strongest suit is her magnetic stage presence – she absolutely thrives in live performance, bringing a unique energy to each show.
For her concerts in the Lightroom, she’ll be playing half a dozen hour-long sets – two per night for three nights. She’ll be playing a fresh repertoire of pieces directly inspired by Hockney’s artwork itself, marrying up the sound with the images in harmony. And occasionally, that artwork will melt away to show close-ups of Yuja as she plays, literally surrounding you with the art of music.
Hopefully, it strikes a chord.
NOTE: Lightroom Live: Yuja x Hockney takes place on 5th, 6th and 7th September at 7 and 9pm. Tickets start at £19.50 and are available right here.
Lightroom | 12 Lewis Cubitt Square, N1C 4DY
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