Di Wu, piano

Praised in the Wall Street Journal as "a most mature and sensitive pianist" and named one of the "up-and-coming talents" in classical music by Musical America, Chinese-American Di Wu continues to enhance her reputation as an elegant and powerful musician. Her concerts have taken her across the globe, charming audiences from East to West with her "charisma, steely technique, and keen musical intelligence" (Philadelphia Inquirer) and her "fire and authority" (Washington Post).

Now based in New York, Di Wu made her Philadelphia Orchestra debut in 2009. Her 2013-14 itinerary began with a return engagement with the Philadelphia Orchestra, this time playing Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini at the Mann Music Center. Other recent North American engagements include debuts with the North Carolina Symphony, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, and Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional of Mexico at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. During the current season, Di Wu will again criss-cross the continent for performances on both coasts and numerous cities in between, as well as making her debut with the China NCPA Orchestra at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing. A dedicated performer of chamber music, she will also join Curtis on Tour for two tours, with performances in California, Costa Rica, Massachusetts, New Mexico, and Washington.

Di Wu made her professional debut at the age of 14 with the Beijing Philharmonic, and has since appeared with orchestras such as those of Cincinnati, Fort Worth, New Jersey, Pittsburgh, Seattle and National Symphony Orchestra, in the U.S., and abroad with Hamburg Philharmoniker, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, and Singapore Symphony Orchestra, to name a few. Some of the most eminent conductors she has collaborated with include Charles Dutoit, Christoph Eschenbach, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Yu Long, Ludovic Morlot and Carlos Miguel Prieto, among others.

In addition to orchestra engagements, Di Wu is also sought after as a recitalist. In New York, she made debuts at Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, and has also appeared in such music centers as Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles and San Francisco, as well as at the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, Ravinia Festival and the Portland Piano Festival. She is also a frequent performer in Europe and in major venues throughout Asia. Her most recent appearance in Tokyo, at an arena concert recorded and released by Sony-Epic Records in Japan, took place before an audience of over 11,000.

Ms. Wu's recording of Brahms' Variations on a Theme of Paganini, Books I and II received praise from Musical America, whose critic wrote "Her account of the Brahms is amazing. She takes all the difficult options (her glissandos are unbelievable!), and she conjures from the piano absolutely gossamer, violinistic textures, joyous humor, and brilliant air-borne tempos."

Winner of multiple awards including a coveted prize at the 2009 Van Cliburn Competition; The Juilliard School’s Petschek Award; The Virtuosi Prize at Lisbon's prestigious Vendome Competition; and the winner of Astral Artists' 2007 National Auditions, Ms. Wu came to the United States in 1999 to study at the Manhattan School of Music with Zenon Fishbein. From 2000 to 2005 she studied at The Curtis Institute with Gary Graffman, subsequently earning a Master of Music degree at Juilliard under Yoheved Kaplinsky, and an Artist Diploma under the guidance of Joseph Kalichstein and Robert McDonald.