On Saturday night, the concluding event of The Soraya’s 2025-2026 season featured a concert by the esteemed Mahler Chamber Orchestra with pianist and director Yuja Wang. The program included the piano Concerto No. 1 Op. 11 by Chopin, the Symphony No. 1 in D Major Op. 25 (“Classical”) by Prokofiev, and the Jazz Suite for Piano Orchestra by Russian composer Alexander Tsfasman.
This concert was also the final performance under the tenure of Executive and Artistic Director Thor Steingraber. Steingraber walked on stage to thunderous applause and a standing ovation. He introduced the program with shout-outs to the leadership and staff of The Soraya, the Nazarian family, as well as the architect, Kara Hill, who was in the audience.
The concert began with Yuja Wang performing and directing the MCO in the Chopin. Wang is known, quite rightly so, as a brilliant technician. But she is also the consummate musician. And even though the Chopin requires its share of technical prowess, it is first and foremost musical in the grandest tradition of Chopin.
Wang and the orchestra gave the concerto a sensitive reading without any fireworks, other than Wang’s fingers seemingly effortlessly flying over the keys. Wang and the orchestra played with a delicateness that bordered on the ephemeral, especially in the second movement. Because the concert is truly for piano with orchestral accompaniment, Wang rarely had to stand to conduct when she wasn’t playing — which was good considering the spiked heels she wears. Still, she managed to stand when necessary and then immediate sit to resume her playing.
The second half began with the orchestra coming onstage all together (in typical German style). Then they stood for a spirited and rousing performance of Prokofiev’s “Classical” symphony. The symphony, with a running time under 20 minutes, is packed with melodies and youthful exuberance.
The MCO is a conductorless touring orchestra composed of musicians from all over Europe, and it often performs under the leadership of its concertmaster, Matthew Truscott. On Saturday night, Truscott led the MCO in an almost dance-like performance of the Prokofiev, which was accentuated by the musicians standing and moving with the music. Truscott emphasized the abrupt shifts in the score from piano to fortissimo, which added to the energetic performance.
The concert concluded with the Jazz Suite by Tsfasman. He was a Russian pianist and composer, who essentially abandoned a career as a concert pianist because of his love for jazz. In fact, he was one of the founders of Soviet jazz. However, despite the moniker “jazz suite,” the suite really resembles a short four-movement concerto for piano and orchestra. There are some clear moments of jazz-inspired writing, for example in the clarinet (an often-used jazz instrument) and trumpet. The orchestration sparkles and the piano part, while not technically in the same ballpark as, say, Rachmaninoff, still requires some good chops. The MCO played with the same cheerfulness they displayed in the Prokofiev, and Wang’s playing was brilliant and smoothly integrated with the orchestra.
Everyone probably knows by now that Yuja Wang loves to play and to perform for audiences. So, she obliged the audience in their standing ovation and cheering by performing two encores, including the Prelude in G minor, Op. 23, No. 5 by Rachmaninoff, which she can probably play in her sleep, but which seemed a fitting conclusion to the night because it is so well known and so rousing.
—Henry Schlinger, Culture Spot LA
For information about The Soraya, visit https://thesoraya.org/en/. The new season will be announced Thursday, May 7.
Photo credit: Yuja Wang, piano and director, performs with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra on April 25, 2026, at The Soraya. | Photo by Luis Luque, Luque Photography