Wu Wei

Sheng virtuoso Wu Wei has developed the ancient instrument into an innovative force in contemporary music. As a soloist, he has performed with such leading orchestras and ensembles as the Berlin and Los Angeles Philharmonics, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble intercontemporain, and Ensemble Modern etc, with such conductors as Kent Nagano, Gustavo Dudamel, Myung-Whun Chung, Jaap van Zweden, Ilan Volkov, Susanna Malkki, Matthias Pintscher, Markus Stenz, Marin Alsop, Jakub Hrusa etc. He has given world premieres of more than 400 works, including 20 concertos for sheng and orchestra, by composers such as John Cage, Unsuk Chin, Jukka Tiensuu, Toshio Hosokawa, Tan Dun, and Huang Ruo. Wu is also a prolific composer for the sheng, having received several commissions including those from Fondation Royaumont and the Civitella Ranieri Foundation.

Wu studied at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and at the Hanns Eisler Academy Berlin. He is a winner of the German music competition Musica Vitale, and was also the recipient of the German Global Root prize, German Record Critics Award, and the Edinburgh International Festival’s Herald Angels prize (2011). He was named best soloist at the Chinese Music Awards (2017). Wu has recorded CDs and DVDs for Deutsche Grammophon, Sony, Harmonia Mundi, and Wergo. His recording Unsuk Chin: 3 Concertos (Deutsche Grammophon) garnered the International Classical Music Award and BBC Music Magazine Award in 2015. With “his extraordinary virtuosity” (the Guardians) his performance was one of highlight by BBC Proms in 2014.