The 2025 National Youth Music Competition (NYMC) will be Plattekloof pianist Yafei Wang’s first foray into the 41-year-old music competition.

The 17-year-old rising star is a Grade 11 learner at Reddam House Durbanville College. She says she entered the NYMC to gain valuable experience from performing and to meet new friends.

She started to play music at age seven. Her first music teacher was Linda Claassen. Nowadays, she is tutored by Prof François du Toit, an adept concert pianist and the deputy director of the South African College of Music at the University of Cape Town (UCT).

Yafei is also a proficient violinist. She says the piano is her favourite musical instrument.

The German composer, Johannes Brahms, is this talented musician’s favourite composer. “I like Brahms as his music feels warm and full of emotion,” she says passionately.

Her father, Xingmin Wang, is her role model. “He inspires me to face difficulties with courage and perseverance.”

Yafei is the first in her family to play a musical instrument. She practices approximately two hours every day. In her free time, she plays hockey and is the captain of her school team.

Should she be able to be an animal, the rising star would like to be a fox. “Like the fox, I am curious, playful and enjoying new ideas and challenges,” she chuckles.

She describes herself as resilient. The ancient Roman philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca provided her with her life motto: “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”