Learning From Yuja Wang, Part Two (August 7, 2025)

Pianist Yuja Wang interviewed by the British Broadcasting Corporation in 2014.

In her interview with the BBC from 2014, Yuja Wang was asked:

BBC: What advice do you give to parents who want their children to be successful classical pianists as well?

YW: It’s difficult to give advice because everyone has their own life, but what I would say is that life is really shorter than you think, so one should live life fully, and do whatever you have a passion for doing.  It does not have to be music, but if it is, really go at it as fully as possible.

I couldn’t agree more. People have been saying that classical music is dying for many years now, and yet every year there are new young aspiring concert artists on stages throughout the world.  The truth is that it has always been difficult for musicians to achieve success in the world of classical music, but difficult is not the same as impossible.

There are many professions that prove more demanding than others and where success is often harder to achieve. Scientists can work for years before a new technique or machine they have discovered is brought to market.  Great writers can struggle a lifetime to write a great work while having to overcome incredible obstacles.  If one looks up the history of many singers who have achieved fame today, they only did so after decades of work where most people did not even know who they were.

The desire to pursue a career in classical music has much more to do with passion, drive, and persistence than with a desire for celebrity and wealth. What most people don’t realize is that fame is only a by-product of doing something well, and that celebrity and the wealth that comes with it can take years to achieve.  Not everyone will be recognized as a prodigy, and even if they are, there is still the need to try and make every performance as good as, or better than, the last, in order to remain successful.

What a lot of people also overlook is also the fact, as Mr. Cosmo and Mr. Alexander say all the time, there are no guarantees.  Being extremely talented is certainly necessary, but classical music is also an industry, a business, and to succeed one also has to build up the right kinds of professional relationships as well. One needs to meet managers who want to put you on their roster; heads of musical organizations in a position to hear you; and individuals and corporations interested in investing in your studies and career progress.  In other words, music is a business just like any other, and not every investment pays off in big career dividends.

The fact is that although many people might say that classical music is dying, it remains alive and well because nothing can ever really take its place.  Audiences around the world still want to hear the works of the great composers, and conservatories are still filled with students hoping to be the next great international artist.

Classical music is not about popularity.  It is about communication.  Connecting with audiences.  Inspiring them. It has always been this way, and even though we may have traded cassettes and CD players for YouTube and Spotify in order to listen, we have also traded phone booths and rotary phones for cell phones. The important thing is that we are still communicating.

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