WASHINGTON–Widely recognized for combining the spontaneity of youth with the discipline and precision of a mature artist, 23-year-old pianist Yuja Wang performs on May 22 at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue here.

Yuja’s second solo recital recording, “Transformation,” was released by Deutsche Grammophon on April 13. Her critically acclaimed debut recording, “Sonatas & Etudes,” was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without Orchestra) category and named Best Debut Album of 2009 by International Piano magazine.

Regularly praised for her extraordinary technique, Yuja’s command of the piano has been described as “astounding” and “superhuman.” She has also been lauded for the depth of her musical insight, as well as her fresh interpretations and charismatic stage presence. Said Gramophone of her debut Deutsche Grammophon recording featuring sonatas and études by Chopin, Scriabin, Liszt, and Ligeti, “Yuja is a wondrously gifted pianist whose debut album...suggests a combination of blazing technique and a rare instinct for poetry.” Wang was named the Classic FM Gramophone Awards 2009 Young Artist of the Year.

Following her San Francisco recital debut, the San Francisco Chronicle wrote, “The arrival of Chinese-born pianist Yuja on the musical scene is an exhilarating and unnerving development. To listen to her in action is to re-examine whatever assumptions you may have had about how well the piano can actually be played.”

The Washington Post called her Kennedy Center recital debut “jaw-dropping,” describing her fresh personality by saying, “Yuja Wang, has the hands of a virtuoso and the offstage mien of a Valley Girl.”

Additional highlights of Wang’s 2009-10 season include an 11-city U.S. tour with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra led by Long Yu in honor of the orchestra’s 130th anniversary and seven performances with the Russian National Orchestra conducted by Patrick Summers during the orchestra’s 20th anniversary U.S. tour.

She will also perform with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony and the New World and San Francisco symphonies led by Michael Tilson Thomas. Wang will perform with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra conducted by Claudio Abbado in Beijing, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Spain and in London, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic. She will give recitals in San Francisco, Vancouver, Detroit, Washington, Zurich, Paris, Madrid, Lisbon and Venice, among other cities worldwide. In the summer of 2010, Wang will return to the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and the Verbier Festival.