At the Wang Yujia piano solo concert held at the Chen Jun Concert Hall (Chen Jun: founder of the crocodile shirt) in Vancouver, Canada on Friday night, because Yu Jia wore sunglasses to perform, many audiences felt strange and caused a lot of criticism. This incident continued to ferment, and Wang Yujia herself had to make clarifications and explanations on Facebook this morning Beijing time.
After Friday's performance, the first to express her views was an article on the classical music site Slipped Disc that said the attention-seeking pianist might have gone too far at her Vancouver recital on Friday night. She wore sunglasses on stage and refused to greet the audience in any way. The audience became increasingly dissatisfied. Then attached is a post by Victoria Symphony Orchestra music director Tania Miller, a 50-year-old Canadian conductoress:
She said that last night I attended a solo concert by Wang Yujia at the University of British Columbia's Chan Arts Centre in Vancouver. I'm looking forward to seeing her performance. I find it strange when she puts on her sunglasses, walks straight to the piano, bows quickly, and starts playing immediately without getting a response from the audience. Some viewers laughed at the thought of a cool new outfit.
But in the performance of each of her subsequent works, she stood up, bowed quickly, without a smile on her face, and when she left the stage, she showed with clear body language that she had snubbed the audience. When the audience continued to applaud and wanted her to be on stage again, she refused. The results were shocking.
Later I heard that she was in trouble entering Canada at the Canadian border. She was obviously angry. But Wang Yujia, you must not forget that music is the most important treasure. Some people are given the ability to share, and doing so is an honor and a blessing. Your innocent listeners, some of whom wear protective gear to protect themselves from a potential coronavirus, come to you for this long-sold concert and listen to the music and extraordinary talent you share. But they experienced artist snubs, refusal to share the beauty of music, the feelings of joy and humanity, and the shared emotions that transcended everything.
To this end, this morning Wang Yujia had to respond:
I find it very difficult to tell people about this, but given the current situation, and the unwarranted speculation and criticism online and elsewhere, I think it is necessary to disclose the following.
At Vancouver International Airport on Friday, I was detained for more than an hour and subjected to harsh interrogation, and I felt very uneasy. Later, I was released and had little time to rush to the Chen Jun Performing Arts Center. I was completely frightened when I left.
That night, when I was taken to the concert venue, my eyes were still visibly red and swollen from crying. I was in a state of shock. Although I was greatly traumatized by this, I was determined not to cancel the concert, but to continue the performance and not to disappoint the audience, including my dear teacher Gary Graffman. I decided that wearing sunglasses was the only way to hide my pained look, because at the time I wasn't prepared to say more about what had happened.
In that moment, my biggest concern was to make the show as best as possible, not to distract the audience from my swollen eyes or obviously inappropriate behavior. I will never neglect or alienate my audience. Everything I do on stage is about communicating with people. My audience and fans supported and nourished me to become an artist.
I am very grateful to Lyra Goetz and her team in Vancouver, as well as to the audience who was in the hall with me for their support.
My concert tour will continue, and I look forward to bringing my show to the audience in San Francisco tonight and then to New York.
Thank you to everyone who has expressed or shared words of support with us during this difficult time. I know, unfortunately, that I'm not the only one who has had this painful experience, and it has left me with a heart pounding. My heart is open to anyone else, and my hope is that by sharing what has happened to me, we need to have more communication and protocol changes on events like this to make sure it doesn't happen to anyone.
Since the statement was issued, there are currently more than four hundred comments, and a few are as follows:
Chinese netizens have different views on this matter. Some people think that Wang Yujia lacks professionalism, and some people think that Wang Yujia has reached the limit of what she can do and should not be blamed more.
One thing can be confirmed that under the spread of the epidemic, the situation of Chinese people, including Wang Yujia, in some countries and regions is worrying, which deserves attention and vigilance.
Currently in the synthesis of classical music (author innocent GUDIAN), Wang Yujia Facebook and so on
Edit: Jiang Fang