“A pianist of true distinction, meaning everything she plays has a form of originality and imagination—really, you must hear her!”– -David Dubal
Winner of the 2016 Beverly Hills National Auditions and the Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund Award, 28-year-old pianist Hui Wu has been described by The New York Times as a “sparkling” performer and “a rising star” by China Musical Weekly. Her versatility is reflected in a creative approach to programming which stems from a contemporary/classical music duality; she often interweaves the classical with the contemporary and her own compositions.
Recent performance highlights include the “Art as Activism” concert with Christopher Rountree and contemporary ensembles wild Up; director-producer-performer debut of her “Lone Journey” multimedia project in collaboration with the USC Thornton Arts Leadership Program, in addition to duo concerts in China with violinist Rainer Honeck (concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra), and in Los Angeles with Stefan Dohr (principal horn of the Berlin Philharmonic) and Stefán Ragnar Höskuldsson (principal flutist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra).
In the past seasons, her performances have included solo recital tours and masterclasses in China and Germany. Other highlights included opening night concert in the Tully Scope Festival in Lincoln Center with Jeffrey Milarsky and contemporary ensemble Axiom, chamber music appearances with choreographer Zach Winokur and the Juilliard Dance Division in ChamberFest at Peter Jay Sharp Theater, and celebration of the centennial of John Cage on the FOCUS! festival in Alice Tully Hall. Ms. Wu has also performed with Jerome Lowenthal in sold-out All-Liszt concerts in China. She has appeared at the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and the Xia’men Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Wu’s performances have been broadcast live on WQXR 93.6 FM and KUSC 91.5 FM.
As an avid chamber musician, Hui has been invited to prestigious festivals such as at Taos School of Music, Yellow Barn Chamber Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, International Summer Music Festival in Goslar, Germany, PianoTexas Festival, and Beijing International Music Festival and Academy. Her mentors and collaborators include musical legends such as Michel Beroff, Malcolm Bilson, Peter Donohoe, Peter Frankl, Margo Garrett, Joseph Kalichstein, Seymour Lipkin, Susan Narucki, Charles Neidich, Menahem Pressler, Gary Wedow, GuangRen Zhou, Robert McDonald, Michael Tree, as well as the Brentano, Borromeo, and the ShangHai Quartets among others.
A new music advocate and a composer herself, Ms. Wu has performed and premiered numerous contemporary works by composers in China, Israel, Germany and United States. She has premiered Eric Nathan’s Dialogues (2012), Paul Chihara’s Bagatelles (2010), and Elliott Schwartz’s Concerto III (NY premiere) with Joel Sachs and the New Juilliard Ensemble. She has also performed Nick Didkovsky’s Zero Waste for pianist and computer on Beyond the Machine 12.1 series at the Music Technology Center in Rosemary and Meredith Willson Theater. Ms. Wu has collaborated with Juilliard’s Dance Division on her composition Simogatas for soprano and piano four hands. In addition, her Three Little Pieces for Orchestra (2011) was premiered by conductor Euntaek Kim and the Double Visions Orchestra. Ms. Wu’s percussion trio, string quartet, and piano concerto has been premiered in Double Visions concert series at Juilliard. Recently, she premiered her own piano piece Aprés Notations (2015) to pay tribute to Pierre Boulez.
A native of China, Ms. Wu started her musical training at age of four. At age of thirteen, she made her debut recital in GuangDong Concert Hall with 12 Chopin Etudes and Liszt Rhapsodies and received high praises. Ms. Wu has won numerous competitions including first prizes in the Kosciuszko Chopin Competition in New York, the Murray Dranoff International Artists Two Pianos Competition in Miami, the 65th Steinway International Piano Competition, and the National Piano Competition (professional Group) in Beijing. Among her other awards, Hui has also won top prizes in the Ettlingen International Competition in Germany, the Corpus Christi International Competition, Young Artists Concerto Competition in Texas, the National Youth Piano Competition of GulangYu International Piano Art Festival and the Golden Clock Piano Competition in China.
Ms. Wu studied at The Juilliard School with full scholarship under the tutelage of Philip Lasser, Matti Raekallio and Jerome Lowenthal. She has recently completed her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at University of Southern California with Stewart Gordon and Donald Crockett. Currently, She is working as a staff pianist at The Colburn School in downtown LA.