WU HAN

2009/ 10 Full Biography (899 Words)

Pianist Wu Han ranks among the most esteemed and influential classical musicians in the world today. Leading an unusually multifaceted artistic career, she has risen to international prominence through her wide-ranging activities as a concert performer, recording artist, educator, arts administrator, and cultural entrepreneur.

In high demand as a recitalist, concerto soloist, and chamber musician, Wu Han has appeared at many of the world’s most prestigious concert series and venues, including Wigmore Hall in London; New York’s Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Morgan Library, and 92nd Street Y; Washington’s Kennedy Center and Library of Congress; Boston’s Symphony Hall; Cleveland’s Severance Hall; and major concert series in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and Seattle. Wu Han’s international tours have led her to England, Germany, Austria, Spain, Denmark, Japan, and her native Taiwan, and she appears regularly at the Aspen Music Festival, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Chamber Music Northwest, Sanibel Music Festival, Caramoor, La Musica Chamber Festival, Savannah Music Festival, and Music@Menlo. Wu Han is a frequent collaborator with many of today’s finest musicians and ensembles, including the Borromeo, St. Lawrence, and Emerson String Quartets.

As duo pianist with cellist David Finckel, Wu Han has performed around the world to unanimous critical acclaim. London's Musical Opinion said of their Wigmore Hall debut: “They enthralled both myself and the audience with performances whose idiomatic command, technical mastery and unsullied integrity of vision made me think right back to the days of Schnabel and Fournier, Solomon and Piatigorsky.” Other past performance highlights include duo performances of the complete Beethoven cycle in Tokyo and New York, and at the summer festivals of Aspen, Santa Fe and Chamber Music Northwest, as well as recitals in Germany and at Finland’s Kuhmo Festival. Numerous works by a cadre of today’s leading composers have been commissioned for and dedicated to the duo; their commitment to new music has brought works by Bruce Adolphe, Lera Auerbach, Gabriela Lena Frank, Pierre Jalbert, Augusta Read Thomas, and George Tsontakis to audiences around the world.

In addition to her distinction as one of classical music’s most accomplished performers, 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 catalogue of eleven albums has won widespread critical acclaim. The Denver Post described ArtistLed as “a classical music breakthrough.” In Time magazine, Terry Teachout hailed ArtistLed’s Tchaikovsky disc as “a performance that ranks among the great chamber music recordings of the postwar era.” The label’s “Russian Classics” release, featuring works by Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, and Shostakovich, received BBC Music Magazine’s coveted “Editor's Choice.” This season, ArtistLed releases its twelfth album, featuring contemporary works for cello and piano, composed for Wu Han and David Finckel, by Bruce Adolphe, Lera Auerbach, Pierre Jalbert, and George Tsontakis. (www.artistled.com)

Wu Han and David Finckel have served as Artistic Directors of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since 2004. They are also the founding Artistic Directors of Music@Menlo, a chamber music festival and institute in Silicon Valley that has garnered international acclaim since its inception in 2003. In these capacities, they have overseen the establishment and design of The Chamber Music Society’s CMS Studio Recordings label, as well as a recording partnership with Deutsche Grammophon (which includes CMS concert downloads made available through the Digital DG Concerts Series); and Music@Menlo LIVE, Music@Menlo’s exclusive recording label, which has been praised as a “breakthrough” (Billboard) and “probably the most ambitious recording project of any classical music festival in the world” (San Jose Mercury News).

Wu Han has been the subject of numerous feature stories around the globe in publications including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Toronto Star, New York Newsday, The Mercury News, Billboard, The Strad, BBC Music Magazine, Time Out London, and Tokyo’s Ongaku-no-Tomo. On television, she has appeared on NBC Nightly News, A&E Network’s Breakfast with the Arts, Channel 13’s New York Voices, CNN’s Turner Entertainment Report and European Business News. She has also been a frequent guest on American Public Media’s Performance Today, Saint Paul Sunday, and other popular classical radio programs.

Wu Han has achieved universal renown for her passionate commitment to nurturing the careers of countless young artists through a wide array of education initiatives. For many years, she taught alongside the late Isaac Stern at Carnegie Hall and the Jerusalem Music Center. She has appeared annually on the Aspen Music Festival’s Distinguished Artist Master Class series and in various educational outreach programs across the country. This season, under the auspices of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Wu Han and David Finckel have 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 artist-faculty comprising such luminaries as pianist Leon Fleisher, violinist Arnold Steinhardt, and others.

Wu Han began her musical studies at the age of nine, and within a few years took first prizes in all the major competitions in Taiwan. She was a participant for two summers at the Marlboro Music Festival, and her teachers include Raymond Hanson, Rudolf Serkin, Herbert Stessin, Lilian Kallir, and Menahem Pressler. Wu Han lives in New York with her husband, David Finckel, and their fifteen-year-old daughter, Lilian.

For more information, please visit www.davidfinckelandwuhan.com.