Early career In 1998, at the age of eleven, Wang received third prize in the Ettlingen International Competition for Young Pianists in Germany. Three years later, she won the third prize and the special jury prize (awarded to an outstanding finalist less than 20 years of age, with prize money of 500,000 Japanese yen) at the first
Sendai International Music Competition in Sendai, Japan. In 2002, Wang won the concerto competition at the
Aspen Music Festival. In 2003, Wang made her European debut with the
Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Switzerland, playing
Beethoven's
Piano Concerto No. 4 under the baton of
David Zinman. She made her North American debut in Ottawa with the
National Arts Centre Orchestra in the 2005–2006 season, replacing
Radu Lupu performing that Beethoven concerto with
Pinchas Zukerman conducting. On September 11, 2005, Wang was named a 2006 biennial
Gilmore Young Artist Award winner, given to the most promising pianists age 22 and younger. As part of the award, she received $15,000, appeared at Gilmore Festival concerts, and had a new piano work commissioned for her. In 2006, Wang made her
New York Philharmonic debut at the
Bravo! Vail Music Festival. The following season, she performed with the orchestra under
Lorin Maazel during a tour of Japan and Korea by the Philharmonic. In March 2007, Wang's breakthrough came when she replaced
Martha Argerich in concerts held in Boston. Argerich had cancelled her appearances with the
Boston Symphony Orchestra on four subscription concerts from March 8 to 13. Her performance of Rimsky-Korsakov's "
Flight of the Bumblebee" is featured on the
Verbier Festival highlights DVD from 2008. In 2012, Wang toured with the
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor
Zubin Mehta in Israel and the U.S., with a performance at Carnegie Hall in New York in September. Wang toured Asia in November 2012 with the
San Francisco Symphony and its conductor
Michael Tilson Thomas. In February 2013, Wang performed and recorded
Prokofiev's Concerto No. 2 and
Rachmaninoff's Concerto No. 3 with Conductor
Gustavo Dudamel and the Venezuelan
Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar. Also in 2013, Wang's recital tour of Japan culminated with her recital debut at Tokyo's
Suntory Hall. Wang made her
Berlin Philharmonic debut in May 2015, performing
Sergei Prokofiev's 2nd Piano Concerto with Conductor
Paavo Järvi. The performance was broadcast live through the orchestra's
Digital Concert Hall. In a departure from her previously predominantly Russian repertoire, Wang played
Mozart's
Piano Concerto No. 9, the
Jeunehomme, in February 2016 at
David Geffen Hall in New York on four successive nights with Charles Dutoit conducting, then, in her debut with the
Vienna Philharmonic under
Valery Gergiev in Munich and Paris. In March 2016, Wang played for three nights in
Messiaen's
Turangalîla-Symphonie with
Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting. In a recital at Carnegie Hall in May 2016, she played
Beethoven's
Piano Sonata No. 29, the , and two
Brahms Ballades and
Robert Schumann's
Kreisleriana. In March 2019, Wang gave the world premiere of the concerto Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes? by John Adams, composed for Ms. Wang, with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under conductor Gustavo Dudamel. She also paid tribute to
Kennedy Center Honoree Michael Tilson Thomas with a rendition of "You Come Here Often?" in 2019. in 2021During 2020 and early 2021, many of Wang's scheduled appearances were cancelled or postponed due to the pandemic. As concert activity gradually resumed, she returned to the stage in late 2021. On October 13, 2022, Wang performed the world premiere of Piano Concerto No. 3 (Lindberg) by Magnus Lindberg with the San Francisco Symphony at Davies Symphony Hall. On January 28, 2023, Wang performed all four
Rachmaninoff piano concertos and his
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini in a single concert with the
Philadelphia Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, a feat conductor
Yannick Nézet-Séguin likened to climbing
Mount Everest. An audience member collapsed during the last movement of the Piano Concerto No. 2, causing the concert to be paused while they received medical attention. The movement was restarted 20 minutes later. After completing the final concerto, Wang played "Dance of the Blessed Spirits" from
Christoph Willibald Gluck's
Orfeo ed Euridice as an encore. In January 2024, Wang was named by
Gramophone as one of the "50 Greatest Classical Pianists on Record". On March 24, 2024, Wang was appointed as the Mary and James G. Wallach Artist-in-Residence of the New York Philharmonic in the 2024–25 season. In October, she signed general management to
Askonas Holt and
Opus 3 Artists. On September 23, 2025, Curtis Institute of Music announced the appointment of Wang as Artist Collaborator, Piano, effective for the 2026–27 academic year. For the 2025–26 season, she is scheduled to open major U.S. orchestras including the San Francisco Symphony and perform at Carnegie Hall and other major venues.
Regular collaborators Wang has performed with all the major orchestras in the U.S., including the Boston Symphony Orchestra;
Chicago Symphony Orchestra;
Cleveland Orchestra;
Los Angeles Philharmonic;
New York Philharmonic;
Philadelphia Orchestra;
Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra;
San Francisco Symphony;
St. Louis Symphony Orchestra; and the
National Symphony Orchestra. Internationally, Wang has performed with the
Berlin Philharmonic;
Czech Philharmonic;
Vienna Philharmonic;
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra;
London Symphony Orchestra;
Orchestre de Paris;
Staatskapelle Berlin;
Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks;
Gewandhausorchester Leipzig;
London Philharmonic;
Toronto Symphony Orchestra;
Israel Philharmonic;
Oslo Philharmonic;
NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo;
Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra; and the
China Philharmonic, among others.
Conducting career Wang has cultivated a long relationship with
Mahler Chamber Orchestra (MCO), starting in 2010 with its founder
Claudio Abbado, when they recorded the
Grammy-nominated album
Rachmaninov. In 2017, she ventured into the art of conducting an orchestra with the MCO, leading performances from the piano where she was also the soloist. Since then, she has expanded her pianist-conductor collaborations to include these additional ensembles:
Chamber Orchestra of Europe,
Lucerne Festival Orchestra,
New York Philharmonic, and
NYO-USA All-Stars. ==Personal life==