I’ve always said the classics deserve a leg (or two) up.
Classical gasp: Yuja Wang’s dress at the Bowl causes a crescendo
Have I told you the one about the tiny piano and the 12-inch pianist? Because she reminds me of that…
Joe
One does what one can to support the arts.
If you’ve got legs like that, you might as well flaunt them.
The interesting question is, was that dress appropriate for a classical music concert?
Is the standard dress code for classical musicians too restrictive? At a pop concert no one would have made blinked. Is it fair that the orchestra members have a strict dress code but the soloist can wear whatever s/he wants?
Should a classical music concert have any dress code at all imposed on the peformers, and should the rules be different for the soloist vs. the orchestra?
Notice the study mentioned in the newspaper article (“Posh Music Should Equal Posh Dress,” which appeared in the April 2010 issue of the journal Psychology of Music, by British researcher Noola Griffiths, who holds a doctorate in the psychology of performance from the University of Sheffield) that shows that people instinctively ranked a musician’s skill higher when the performer was wearing traditional “concert dress”.
Jeez, I hope she got matching panties with that thing.
(okay, female
IMHO: No, yes, yes, and yes.
Note, by the way, that the dress code is more relaxed for female soloists than for male ones. Even for soloists, standard white-tie concert uniform seems to be expected more often than not (though not mandatory) if you’re a guy.
Concert uniform for the ensemble is a good idea, I think: no stress about what to wear, no problems with wearing the same uniform for every performance all season long, no hassle about coordinating outfits or distracting the audience with clashing or bizarre looks.
And the individuality of the soloists’ clothing works well for visual interest and IMO is appropriate for the soloist role.
Personally, I don’t care how low-cut or short-skirted or weird the soloist’s outfit is: whatever they want to wear is all right with me, as long as it’s appropriately dressy for the formal look of the orchestra. However, I do think that a young soloist (especially an instrumentalist) who rides a flamboyant pop-star image too hard runs the risk of typecasting herself. Sure, Wang is a magnificent pianist, but if her image ends up being more about her legs than her musical skills, what happens ten or fifteen years down the road when people grow less interested in looking at her legs?
From my experience in looking at legs, I’d say she’ll reach typical retirement age before that happens. 
Anything that gets rid of the idea that classical music should be stuffy and overly formal is a good idea. Anything involving attractive young ladies in skimpy clothing is also a good idea. Combining the two is genius.
Sure.
I don’t think that ranking the skill is all that significant in this case. Isn’t she already a world renowned artist?
Yep.
I dunno; you can’t just wrap a Wang in tight fabric and expect to have a world-class pianist.
<slow clap>
Great choice by Ms. Wang. Her dress doesn’t impact the music at all, but it does sexy-up the presentation a little and bring in people who otherwise wouldn’t have shelled out the coin.
Based on the bolded sentence I went to youtube to watch some of her performances there. I watched this and this and this. Two things came to mind: 1) this lady is incredibly talented and 2) she does have a great pair of legs.
I completely agree with this quote from the story linked in the OP:
Dammit, when I was a kid and would hunch over the piano and wave my torso around while playing, my piano teacher would gripe at me. “Sit up straight. Only move your arms.”
OTOH I didn’t try wearing a cocktail dress.
But still.
I would have gone for something a bit less tight and a bit longer, but I don’t have a problem with her dress, she is comfortable in it. Even back when I had the body for it I never wore miniskirts or short-shorts, because they were not comfortable for me personally.
She looks good in orange. I can’t wait to see what else she wears.
Oh, and as an aside, concerning folks complaining about the classiness of her attire: What she’s wearing is plenty classy. Classy is not related, inversely or otherwise, with sexy. If she were wearing loose-fitting jeans and a hoodie, I would agree that she wasn’t appropriately dressed for a piano recital, despite that outfit not being particularly sexy. If she were wearing a skimpy bikini, I would likewise agree that that was inappropriate. The dress she’s wearing, though, is both classy and sexy.
Things have been trending that way in classical music for quite awhile, judging from the metamorphosis of album covers.
Ms Wang is a bit behind the curve (sorry) when you take into account classical artistes such as these.