Since her Australian debut in 2023, Wynona Wang has been busy, but she loves a challenge.

“It’s crazy, but I wouldn’t complain about any part of it. At some point in my life, I’d like to slow down, but not yet. I enjoy traveling so much – I love those unexpected situations. Sometimes a gig comes in and they’ll ask, ‘Can you play a concert in three days on the other side of the country?’ and I always enjoy it. I prove to myself that I can do it, and that’s very fulfilling,” she tells Limelight.

The young Chinese pianist is finishing the final year of her Artist Diploma at Juilliard in New York, where she also teaches (she’s Zooming in from a practice room, her laptop perched on a piano). She has been travelling and performing widely, both in the US and abroad – with orchestras, at chamber music festivals and in solo recitals. Along the way, there have been surprises, including the chance to perform Busoni’s Indian Fantasy, not once but twice.

“They couldn’t find a pianist, because nobody plays this piece. Nobody even knows about this piece,” Wang...