Wu Han (吴菡) (born February 19, 1959) is a
Taiwanese-American
Taiwanese Americans () are Americans who carry full or partial ancestry from Taiwan. This includes American-born citizens who descend from migrants from Taiwan.
As of the 2010 U.S. Census, 49% of Taiwanese Americans lived in the state of Cali ...
pianist and influential figure in the
classical music world. Leading a multifaceted career, she has risen to international prominence through her activities as a concert performer, recording artist, educator, arts administrator, and cultural
entrepreneur. She is currently the Co-Artistic Director of the
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and
Music@Menlo Chamber Music Festival and Institute in California and Co-Founder of ArtistLed. She also serves as Artistic Advisor for Wolf Trap’s Chamber Music in the Barns series and the Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach.
Career
Wu Han began her musical studies in Taipei,
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...
at the age of nine. In addition to the piano, she studied two other Chinese instruments, viola and percussion. By 12, Wu Han was playing concerts, and competing and winning competitions. Within a few years, she had captured first prizes in all of Taiwan's major competitions. At the invitation of
The Hartt School in Connecticut, she traveled to America in 1981 to continue her studies with a double major in viola and piano. Wu Han studied with Raymond Hanson,
Rudolf Serkin
Rudolf Serkin (28 March 1903 – 8 May 1991) was a Bohemian-born Austrian-American pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Beethoven interpreters of the 20th century.
Early life, childhood debut, and education
Serkin was born in t ...
, Herbert Stessin,
Lillian Kallir, and
Menahem Pressler and attended the
Marlboro Music School and Festival for two summers.
Wu Han has gone on to perform on the world's leading stages including
Carnegie Hall,
Lincoln Center, Washington's
Kennedy Center, and
Wigmore Hall in London. She collaborates with a wide array of artists and ensembles including the
Borromeo String Quartet,
Emerson String Quartet,
Escher String Quartet, and
St. Lawrence Quartet
The St. Lawrence String Quartet is a Canadian string quartet, and one of Canada's premier chamber ensembles.
The Quartet was founded in 1989 and has served residencies at the Juilliard School, Yale University, the University of Toronto, the Hart ...
.
In recent years, Wu Han's repertoire has expanded to include numerous works by a cadre of leading composers. Works have been commissioned for and dedicated to Wu Han and cellist
David Finckel from
Bruce Adolphe
Bruce Adolphe (born May 31, 1955) is a composer, music scholar, the author of several books on music, and pianist. He is currently Resident Lecturer and Director of Family Concerts of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and founder and cre ...
,
Lera Auerbach,
Gabriella Lena Frank Gabriella may refer to:
* Gabriella (given name), a feminine given name
* ''Gabriella di Vergy'', an opera seria by Gaetano Donizetti (1826, revised 1838), and an opera by Mercadante (1828), based on the tragedy ''Gabrielle de Vergy'' by Dormont De ...
, Pierre Jalbert,
Augusta Read Thomas
Augusta Read Thomas (born April 24, 1964) is an American composer and professor.
Biography
Thomas studied composition with Oliver Knussen at Tanglewood; Jacob Druckman at Yale University; Alan Stout and Bill Karlins at Northwestern University ...
, and
George Tsontakis, and music by several of these composers is featured on ArtistLed's 'For David and Wu Han' album.
Partnership with David Finckel
Wu Han performs and records frequently in collaboration with cellist
David Finckel, whom she married in 1985. Since the 1990s, the two artists have toured widely year-round and have emerged as one of the most popular cello-piano duos on the musical scene today. Wu Han and David Finckel regularly perform on all of the major chamber music series in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
, as well as across
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
and
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...
. They also appear regularly in trio performances with violinist
Philip Setzer
The Emerson String Quartet, also known as the Emerson Quartet, is an American string quartet that was initially formed as a student group at the Juilliard School in 1976. It was named for American poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson and beg ...
, clarinetist
David Shifrin, and as a piano quartet with violinist
Daniel Hope
Daniel Hope (born 17 August 1973, Durban, South Africa) is a European classical violinist.
Early life and education
Hope was born in Durban, South Africa, and is of Irish and Jewish German descent, his maternal grandparents, formerly from Be ...
and violist
Paul Neubauer. In an award ceremony in New York in 2012, they received Musical America's Musicians of the Year award.
ArtistLed
In addition to her distinction as an accomplished performer, Wu Han has established a reputation for her dynamic and innovative approach to the recording studio. In 1997, Wu Han and David Finckel launched ArtistLed,
classical music's first musician-directed and Internet-based recording company, whose catalog of twenty-three albums has won widespread acclaim. ''
BBC Music Magazine
''BBC Music Magazine'' is a British monthly magazine that focuses primarily on classical music.
History
The first issue appeared in September 1992. BBC Worldwide, the commercial subsidiary of the BBC was the original owner and publisher togeth ...
'' saluted the launch by featuring the company's debut album on the cover. Wu Han is a controlling participant in every aspect of the recording process, from selecting the repertoire and recording venue to setting the sound, running the sessions, constructing the edits, and determining the final mix. ArtistLed's Grammy-award-winning recording engineer is
Da-Hong Seetoo
Da-Hong Seetoo (; born September 29, 1960) is a classical record producer, recording engineer, and Violinist. He has worked for the German classical record label, Deutsche Grammophon, and has recorded artists such as the Emerson String Quartet, D ...
.
Music@Menlo
In 2003, together with cellist David Finckel, Wu Han co-founded
Music@Menlo, an annual chamber music festival and institute in
Silicon Valley that brings to the San Francisco Bay are a lineup of accomplished musicians, scholars, educators, and musicologists, as well as a roster of gifted young artists, for an immersive three-week chamber music experience in the summer.
The $2.2 million annual budget supports over sixty-five public events each year; total annual attendance now exceeds 13,000 with free program attendance exceeding 6,000; nearly 300 artists have come from all over the world to perform in the main-stage concerts, lead multimedia Encounter lectures, coach students of the Chamber Music Institute, and work with Menlo School students in the annual Winter Residency; 477 Chamber Music Institute participants have enrolled in the program to date; and 318 interns have gained real-world professional experience from Music@Menlo's industry-leading Arts Administration Internship Program.
Wu Han was instrumental in the formation of Music@Menlo's innovative live recording series, Music@Menlo ''LIVE'', which commercially releases live recordings from the festival each year. The label was launched in 2004 and has been praised as "probably the most ambitious recording project of any classical music festival in the world" (San Jose Mercury News). Over 130 live recordings have been released to date.
Performances from the festival air nationwide on American Public Media's ''Performance Today'', the largest daily classical music program in the United States, which airs on 260 stations and reaches more than one million people each week.
In 2002, Wu Han developed and trademarked AudioNotes, an innovative complement to program notes. The listener guides are designed to offer audiences engaging introductions to many of the concert programs presented over the years.
The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
In 2004, Wu Han and
David Finckel were appointed Artistic Directors of the
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, where they currently present around 200 concerts, lectures, master classes, and outreach events each season. The Chamber Music Society is recognized as one of the leaders in the field of chamber music in
North America. In 2021, Finckel & Wu Han were invited to extend their appointment for a fourth five-year term, the longest tenure since that of founding Artistic Director
Charles Wadsworth
Charles Wadsworth is a classical pianist and musical promoter from Newnan, Georgia, who graduated from the University of Georgia. Recognized for his abilities at a young age, at age 12 he started taking piano lessons from Hugh Hodgson, namesake of ...
.
Since becoming Co-Artistic directors, the projects they have directed and initiated include: programming the CMS seasons; expansion of the
Bowers Program (formerly known as CMS Two); the creation and growth of
CMS recording labels; international partnerships and expanded touring; establishing performance and educational residencies across the United States; commissioning more than 50 new works by emerging and established composers; and awarding of CMS's
Stoeger Prize
The Stoeger Prize from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center is an international music prize for composers of chamber music. The US$25,000 cash award is given every two years in recognition of significant contributions to the chamber music r ...
for composition; creation and expansion of the CMS's online presence via live-streaming expanded national radio broadcasts to 52 shows per year; and the creation of new series such as Late Night Rose and the Quartet Series.
They have also directed their attention to expanding the organization's activities internationally with the establishment of residencies and concert series, including the Mecklenburg–Vorpommern Festspiele in
Germany;
Wigmore Hall in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
; Teatro Mayor in
Bogota, Colombia; and Bach Inspiration in
Taipei, Taiwan
Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...
,
In the United States, the residencies they have established include the
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in
Boston, MA;
Harris Theater in
Chicago, IL; St. Cecilia Music Center in
Grand Rapids, MI; the
University of Georgia in
Athens, GA; the
Performing Arts Center at Purchase College in
Purchase, NY
Purchase is a hamlet in the town and village of Harrison, in Westchester County, New York, United States. One myth explains that its name is derived from Harrison's purchase, where John Harrison was to be granted as much land as he could ride in ...
;
Saratoga Performing Arts Center in
Saratoga Springs, NY
Saratoga Springs is a city in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 28,491 at the 2020 census. The name reflects the presence of mineral springs in the area, which has made Saratoga a popular resort destination for over ...
; the Chrysalis Chamber Music Institute at the
University of North Carolina School of the Arts
The University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) is an arts school in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It grants high school, undergraduate, and graduate degrees. Founded in 1963 as the North Carolina School of the Arts by then-Govern ...
in
Winston-Salem, NC; and
Shaker Village in
Pleasant Hill, KY.
Other Artistic Partnerships
Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts appointed Wu Han Artistic Advisor for the Chamber Music in the Barns in 2018, and she continues to curate the series today. Wu Han also serves as Artistic Advisor for Classical Music for the Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach.
Intent on expanding the presence of chamber music in Asia, in 2011, Wu Han assumed the Co- Artistic Directorship of Chamber Music Today with David Finckel. From 2011-2018; the annual chamber music festival and institute presented the world's greatest chamber musicians to the Far East at venues including the IBK Chamber Hall of the new Seoul Arts Center in
Seoul,
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
.
Educational Activities
Wu Han's fervent commitment to nurturing the careers of countless young artists has led her to take on an array of education initiatives.
In 2004, Wu Han and David Finckel created the Chamber Music Institute at
Music@Menlo. The institute offers a rigorous professional training ground and a wide array of performance opportunities to gifted young musicians who have been selected from conservatories, youth orchestras, and music programs nationally and internationally.
In 2009, under the auspices of
The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS) is an American organization dedicated to the performance and promotion of chamber music in New York City. It is the largest organization of its kind in the country for chamber music. CMS's home is ...
, Wu Han and David Finckel established chamber music training workshops for young artists in Korea and Taiwan, intensive residency programs designed to bring student musicians into contact with an elite faculty of artists including pianist Leon Fleisher and violinist Arnold Steinhardt.
As Co-Artistic Director of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Wu Han has been instrumental in the expansion of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's Bowers Program (formerly the ''CMS Two'' program), that invites outstanding young musicians from around the world through audition to join the CMS artist roster for an extended residency that includes both performance and educational outreach opportunities. Under her leadership, the residency program has expanded from two to three years, and she greatly increased the level of participation of these young artists.
Wu Han has presented master classes at venerable institutions throughout the world, and for many years taught alongside the late
Isaac Stern at
Carnegie Hall and the
Jerusalem Music Centre. She has also served as a member of the Artist-Faculty at the
Aspen Music Festival and School for many years, and in 2013 established The Finckel-Wu Han Chamber Music Studio, which ran two weeks each summer through 2019.
Media
Wu Han has been the subject of numerous articles around the globe in publications including ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'', ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...
'', ''
San Francisco Chronicle'', ''
Toronto Star'', ''
New York Newsday
''New York Newsday'' was an American daily newspaper that primarily served New York City and was sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The paper, established in 1985, was a New York City-specific offshoot of '' Newsday'', a Long Isl ...
'', ''
The Mercury News'', ''
The Strad'', ''
BBC Music Magazine
''BBC Music Magazine'' is a British monthly magazine that focuses primarily on classical music.
History
The first issue appeared in September 1992. BBC Worldwide, the commercial subsidiary of the BBC was the original owner and publisher togeth ...
'', San Francisco Classical Voice, Concerti Magazine, Music Matters, Musical America, and Tokyo's ''Ongaku-no-Tomo''. On television, she has appeared on ''
NBC Nightly News'', Channel 13 ''New York Voices'' and PBS's ''AHA! A House for'' the ''Arts'',
and has also been a frequent guest on
American Public Media's ''Performance Today'', ''
Saint Paul Sunday'', and other popular classical radio programs.
Personal life
Wu Han divides her time between
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and
Westchester County with her husband and musical partner, cellist
David Finckel. They have one daughter, Lilian Finckel.
Discography
* ''Winterreise (2020)''
* ''Wu Han LIVE III (2019)''
* ''Bach, Mendelssohn, Debussy, Britten (2018)''
* ''Wu Han LIVE II (2016)''
* ''Romantic Piano Quartets (Brahms, Schumann, Mahler) on Deutsche Grammaphon with Daniel Hope, Paul Neubauer and Wu Han (2015)''
* ''Wu Han LIVE (2014)''
* ''Dvorak Piano Trios with Philip Setzer and David Finckel (2012)''
* ''Clarinet Trios with David Shifrin and David Finckel (2011)''
* ''Mendelssohn: The Piano Trios with Philip Setzer and David Finckel (2011)''
* ''For David and Wu Han (contemporary works composed for David Finckel and Wu Han) (2009)''
* ''Schubert Piano Trios with Philip Setzer and David Finckel (2008)''
* ''Derek Han plays Mozart, with Wu Han, Peter Asimov, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (2008)''
* ''Russian Recital (featuring solo piano works by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, and Skryabin) (2007)''
* ''CMS Studio Recordings: Elgar and Walton (2007)''
* ''CMS Studio Recordings: Beethoven and Dvořák (2007)''
* ''DG Concerts: Bartok/Dvořák (2007)''
* ''Brahms Sonatas (2005)''
* ''Schubert Sonatas (2004)''
* ''Edwin Finckel: Music For Cello (2001)''
* ''Russian Classics (2001)''
* ''Beethoven: Complete Works for Piano & Cello (1998)''
* ''Sonatas by Strauss, Franck, and Finckel (1997)''
* ''Sonatas by Tchaikovsky and Kodály with Da-Hong Seetoo and David Finckel (1997)''
* ''Sonatas by Grieg, Schumann, and Chopin (1997)''
References
External links
David Finckel and Wu Han – Official WebsiteArtistLed – Official WebsiteChamber Music Society of Lincoln Center - BioChamber Music Society of Lincoln Center – Artist ProfileMusic@Menlo - Artistic Directors Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wu, Han
1959 births
American classical pianists
Male classical pianists
American women classical pianists
American classical musicians of Chinese descent
American musicians of Taiwanese descent
American women musicians of Chinese descent
Aspen Music Festival and School faculty
Living people
University of Hartford Hartt School alumni
Taiwanese emigrants to the United States
20th-century American pianists
20th-century American women pianists
21st-century classical pianists
Women music educators
21st-century American women pianists
21st-century American pianists
20th-century American male musicians
21st-century American male musicians