Meet David Finckel and Wu Han
David Finckel and Wu Han are among the most esteemed and influential classical musicians in the world today. They are recipients of Musical America’s Musicians of the Year award, one of the highest honors granted by the music industry. The energy, imagination, and integrity they bring to their multifaceted endeavors as concert performers, artistic directors, recording artists, educators, and cultural entrepreneurs go unmatched.
In high demand among audiences worldwide, David Finckel and Wu Han appear annually at the most prestigious concert venues across the United States, Mexico, Canada, the Far East, and Europe, their performances garnering superlatives from the press, public, and presenters alike. Highlights of their 2018–19 season include international and domestic tours as a duo and collaborations with a stellar lineup of artists and ensembles. They continue to perform with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS) in New York and on tour; reunite with violinist Daniel Hope and violist Paul Neubauer for a U.S. tour reaching seven cities; and embark on a series of piano trio performances in Canada and the United States with violinist Philip Setzer. As the winter unfolds, they join CMS artists on tour to the Far East with appearances in Taipei and Hsinchu, Taiwan, and in Shanghai, China. The duo will also be the subject of two television features to be broadcast on PBS stations across the country.
Now in their third term as Artistic Directors of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, David Finckel and Wu Han hold the longest tenure as directors since CMS founder Charles Wadsworth. They are the founders and Artistic Directors of Music@Menlo, the San Francisco Bay Area’s premier summer chamber music festival and institute, approaching its seventeenth season in 2019. Additionally, David Finckel and Wu Han are founding Artistic Directors of Chamber Music Today, an annual festival held in Seoul, South Korea, which marks its eighth season in 2018. Beginning this fall, Wu Han will serve as Artistic Advisor of Wolf Trap’s Chamber Music at the Barns for two seasons, and in the spring, the duo inaugurates an immersive, week-long festival in Palm Beach that explores German and Austrian chamber music through an array of performances and interactive events.
In addition to their distinction as world-class performers, David Finckel and Wu Han have established a reputation for their dynamic and innovative approach to the recording studio. They opened up a whole new world in the classical recording industry when they created ArtistLed, the first musician-directed and internet-based classical recording company. BBC Music Magazine recently saluted the label’s twentieth anniversary featuring the duo on its cover CD. This new recording is to be released on the ArtistLed label in the fall. David Finckel and Wu Han have also overseen the establishment of the CMS Studio Recordings label, the Society’s partnership with Deutsche Grammophon, CMS’s livestream programming, and Music@Menlo LIVE, which has been praised as “the most ambitious recording project of any classical music festival in the world” (San Jose Mercury News).
David Finckel and Wu Han have received universal praise for their passionate commitment to nurturing the artistic growth of countless young artists through a wide array of educational initiatives. Under their leadership at CMS, the Bowers Program (formerly CMS Two) identifies and inducts the finest young chamber artists into the entire spectrum of CMS activities. As Artistic Directors of Music@Menlo, their Chamber Music Institute has provided hundreds of students with incomparable, immersive musical experiences over sixteen summers. Since 2009, David Finckel and Wu Han have directed the LG Chamber Music School in South Korea, which serves dozens of young musicians annually. From 2013 to 2018, the duo led an intensive chamber music studio at the Aspen Music Festival and School. In the 2018–19 season, David Finckel and Wu Han’s website opens a new initiative which addresses the challenges and opportunities facing today’s classical music performers and presenters.
David Finckel and Wu Han reside in New York.
For more information, visit www.davidfinckelandwuhan.com.