Born in Beijing in 1987, Yuja Wang began studying the piano at age 6, performing in China, Australia and Germany as a child before attending the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. She moved to North America, first attending the summer program of the Mount Royal College in Calgary and then the Mount Royal Conservatory. At 15, Wang won the Aspen Music Festival's concerto competition and moved to Philadelphia to study with Graffman at the Curtis Institute of Music.

Wang says she's exhilarated by her recent move to New York from Philadelphia, even though her current living situation is decidedly Spartan. ''I just have a rug, a piano and a bed,'' she says. ``It's a huge change from Philadelphia. But I'm just two blocks from Carnegie Hall. I'm very interested to discover the city. I want to explore every corner of New York.''

Unlike many a young musician, she doesn't travel with an entourage of family, teachers and assorted hangers-on, a testament to her youthful maturity and independence.

''I always travel alone,'' says Wang. ``I always bring a book and my laptop. I enjoy studying music on the plane too, like a conductor. It gives me time to think.''

In addition to a voracious appetite for music, the depth of Wang's taste in reading is impressive in an age when The Da Vinci Code is considered classic literature. ''Right now I'm reading The Idiot by Dostoyevsky,'' she says. ''And I read Nietzsche's Thus Sprach Zarathustra and Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead. And I love Victor Hugo. I read no trash,'' she laughs.

As with her literary choices, Wang makes no concession to the middle-brow in music and is planning to explore more contemporary works, including music of Messiaen, Ligeti, Xenakis and George Crumb, ''Being Chinese, I think Tan Dun is very interesting too,'' she says. ``There are so many treasures to discover. Every day I discover something new.''

Like many young women, she enjoys shopping, as well as exploring YouTube. She's a dedicated movie fan, particularly of older films including Woody Allen's Manhattan, which served as her video introduction to New York. She also enjoyed Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut for its use of Ligeti's music. Asked if she was old enough to see the director's erotic thriller, she laughs. ``I'm legal now!''

Wang says her musical appetite sometimes make her so restless that she becomes impatient. ``I can only practice 20 minutes because I get bored. I'm trying to get a longer attention span. It's a good thing all the pieces I play are under a half-hour!''

Yet, Wang has the searching temperament and perfectionist attitude of a seasoned artist, finding herself constantly questioning and reexamining her approach to a familiar piece of music. ''Sometimes, even subconsciously, I just change it a little,'' she says. ``You know, the hall is always different, different piano or orchestra, different conductor.

``I like to play it differently each time. That way it's always fresh.''

-- LAWRENCE A. JOHNSON

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