At the age of 17, Ryan Wang won over the audience and jury alike with his passionate interpretation of Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2 to gain the coveted accolade of BBC Young Musician 2024. He talks to Maggie Hamilton about the importance of his teachers, how closely studying a score can help in plumbing the work's emotional depths, and what it takes to become an artist rather than merely a practitioner
NORATHEP

RW: My parents aren't musical, and we didn't have any musical instruments in our family before I started. But my neighbour played the piano, and I'd go to her house and was fascinated by this instrument. I begged my parents to buy me a piano, which they did when I was four.

RW: When you're that young, I think you don't really care about who's in the audience or where you're playing. It's a very carefree way of performing, very natural, because many five-year-olds are very simple and innocent.

RW: He's a very distinguished piano professor in Vancouver, Professor Lee Kum Sing. He's an extremely sensitive musician. When you're really young, the foundations of your artistic self are shaped by your teacher. I'm very grateful to him because he was never hard on me – it was always a very positive learning experience and environment. I think that's what really made me love music. And when we travelled together, it wasn't always about music, but also trying new foods, new experiences – introducing me to an artist's kind of life.

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