| Wu Han | |
| Background: | classical_ensemble |
| Birth Date: | 19 February 1959 |
| Origin: | Taipei, Taiwan |
| Instrument: | Piano |
| Genre: | Classical |
| Occupation: | Pianist, arts administrator |
| Label: | ArtistLed |
| Associated Acts: | Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Music@Menlo |
Wu Han (; born February 19, 1959) is a Taiwanese-American 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. She was appointed Artistic Director of La Musica in 2022.
Wu Han began her musical studies in Taipei, Taiwan 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, Herbert Stessin, Lillian Kallir, and Menahem Pressler and attended the Marlboro Music School and Festival for two summers.[1]
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.
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, Lera Auerbach, Gabriella Lena Frank, Pierre Jalbert, Augusta Read Thomas, and George Tsontakis, and music by several of these composers is featured on ArtistLed's 'For David and Wu Han' album.
Wu Han frequently collaborates with cellist David Finckel. The two were married in 1985.[2] They regularly perform on the chamber music series in the United States, as well as across Europe and Asia. They also appear in trio performances with violinist Philip Setzer and clarinetist David Shifrin, and as a piano quartet with violinist Daniel Hope and violist Paul Neubauer.
In 2003, Wu Han and Finkel co-founded Music@Menlo, an annual chamber music festival.[2] Alumni of both Music@Menlo’s Chamber Music Institute and internship program have gone on to create and direct more than 30 chamber music organizations worldwide.
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.
In 2004, Wu Han and Finckelwere appointed Artistic Directors of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in New York City[3] [4] The Chamber Music Society is one of eleven constituents of Lincoln Center.
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. In 2022, she was appointed Artistic Director of La Musica in Sarasota, Florida and was invited to serve on the jury of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.
Wu Han 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.[5]
Wu Han has been the subject of numerous articles around the globe in publications including The Washington Post The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times,[6] Musical America Worldwide, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Toronto Star, New York Newsday, The Mercury News,[7] The Strad, BBC Music Magazine,[8] San Francisco Classical Voice,[9] Concerti Magazine,[10] Music Matters,[11] Musical America,[12] and Tokyo's Ongaku-no-Tomo. On television, she has appeared on Articulate with Jim Cotter, 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.