Hailed by the Nice-Matin of France as a “globe-trotter virtuoso, Hekun Wu is one of the most recognized Chinese musicians in the world,” Wu enjoys a versatile career as a concert cellist, conductor and chamber musician. The Boston Globe described his playing as “bold and very full of conviction … unusually supple and beautiful,” and the China Times praised his “virtuosic technique with thoughtful and poetic expressivity.” Music festivals and concerts have taken him to Austria, France, Germany, Italy, U.S. and his native China in cities as Shanghai, Paris, New York, Leipzig, and Boston, and he has been featured on numerous radio and television broadcasts worldwide. After a televised performance in Paris, the legendary French cellist Maurice Gendron wrote to congratulate him, “We saw you performing Fauré’s Elégie on French Television, it was very beautiful, Bravo.” Wu has performed with major orchestras in China including the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and the China Central Philharmonic Orchestra of Beijing; giving the Chinese premieres of the Milhaud and Elgar cello concertos, as well as Penderecki’s Concerto Grosso with Penderecki on the podium.  As a recording artist, he can be heard on the CRC, Albany, and Bridge labels; most recently his recording of the Bach Six Solo Suites was released on MSR Classics label.

Equally at home on the podium, Wu has conducted the Icicle Creek Music Festival Orchestra and served as music director of the Salem Chamber Orchestra. He has given the Pacific Northwest premieres of the American composer Ned Rorem’s opera, Our Town, and Tan Dun’s Pipa Concerto. This season he will make his conducting début in China with orchestras including the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra and the Pro-Musica Chamber Orchestra in Shanghai.      

Dr. Wu is currently the cello professor and conductor at Willamette University.  He has taught at Wellesley College and previously at the Shanghai Conservatory where he was offered a professorship at the age of 22; his students have won top prizes at major competitions and now serve in principal positions with major orchestras. He has led masterclasses at numerous institutions in North America and Asia including the New England Conservatory, the Longy School, and the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, and the summer music academies in France and Germany.

Born and educated in Shanghai and at the Paris Conservatoire, he completed his graduate studies in the U.S. where he was also a recipient of both cello and conducting fellowships from the Aspen Music Festival-School.  Wu studied with renowned artists Maurice Gendron, Paul Tortelier, Zara Nelsova, Tanya Remenikova, Leslie Parnas, and David Zinman.

Visit Hekun Wu’s website: www.willamette.edu/~hwu