Full Biography
Praised in The Wall Street Journal as “a most mature and sensitive pianist,” Chinese-born Di Wu’s reputation as an elegant yet exciting musician continues to grow. 2009 was a banner year – she made her New York Alice Tully Hall recital debut as winner of Juilliard’s William Petschek Piano Debut Recital Award, was named “Artist of the Month” by MusicalAmerica.com, and was awarded a Vendome Virtuosi prize at Lisbon’s prestigious Vendome Competition as well as one of the coveted prizes at the XIII Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. In September she made her Philadelphia Orchestra debut at a gala benefit concert under Charles Dutoit.
Ms. Wu is the winner of many competition prizes, including First Prize at the 2005 Hilton Head International Piano Competition and the year 2000 Missouri Southern International Piano Competition, where she was invited to return for a worldwide broadcast encore recital in 2001. She was also a winner of Astral Artists’ 2007 National Auditions. Her recording of Brahms’s Variations on a Theme of Paganini, Books I and II received praise from Musical America, who 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.”
Di Wu made her professional debut at the age of 14 with the Beijing Philharmonic. She went on to tour widely in Asia, Europe, and the United States, where recent orchestral engagements have included appearances with the National Symphony Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony, and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, as well as two performances in Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops. She made her solo debut in Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall in 2005, and has given recitals in the Cleveland Playhouse, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, and Bass Performance Hall in Texas, among many others. In Europe, she presented recitals at the Mozart Gesellschaft Dortmund, Klavier Festival Ruhr, and the Busoni International Piano festivals, and in such venues as the Musée de Grenoble and Musée d’Orsay in Paris.
During the 2009-2010 season, Ms. Wu had 60 engagements that took her from California to Germany, performing under the batons of James Conlon and Simone Young, and in venues from New York’s Le Poisson Rouge to Steinway Hall. The season also included debuts with the Fort Worth Symphony and the Hamburg Philharmoniker, as well as recitals in New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco, among many others. Additionally, she participated in residencies at both the University of Vermont and at the 72nd Annual Whittier College Johann Sebastian Bach Festival in California.
Upcoming engagements include a return to the Forth Worth Symphony and performances with Symphony in C, Erie Philharmonic, the Curtis Orchestra, and the Terre Haute, Springfield, Colorado Springs, Carmel, and Princeton symphonies, as well as recitals in San Juan, Vermont, North Carolina, Washington, Texas, Georgia, and more.
Di Wu came to the U.S. 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. She also received a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School under Yoheved Kaplinsky, and recently earned an Artist Diploma from Juilliard under the guidance of Joseph Kalichstein and Robert McDonald.
Updated: JULY 2010
