Sam Wu's music "abounds in delicate colours, wisps of sound and sylvan textures" (Gramophone).
Invited to residencies at Zion National Park and the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, winner of an ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award and the New York Youth Symphony's Jon Deak First Music Commission, Sam Wu also received Harvard's Robert Levin Prize and Juilliard's Palmer Dixon Prize.
Sam’s collaborations span five continents, notably with the orchestras of Philadelphia, New Jersey, Minnesota, Sarasota, Columbus, Melbourne, Tasmania, and Shanghai, Carnegie Hall, Sydney International Piano Competition, the Lontano, Parker, Argus, ETHEL, and icarus Quartets, conductors Osmo Vänskä, Marin Alsop, Cristian Mǎcelaru, and Miguel Harth-Bedoya, and sheng virtuoso Wu Wei.
From Melbourne, Australia, Sam Wu holds degrees from Harvard, Juilliard, and Rice. His mentors include Tan Dun, Gabriela Lena Frank, Scott Yoo, and Anthony Brandt.
Sam Wu
From the bottom of my heart, thank you @ZionNPS for a magical residency!!
I was fortunate to stay in the Grotto House, located by the trailhead for Angel’s Landing, among red sandstone cliffs. It was a joy sharing my love for the park with visitors and staff, presenting on my music, and participating in graffiti and trash clean-up.
Later this year, @jamespalmer6600 will première a substantial new work for solo piano dedicated to Zion. This will be the official piece of art that I donate to the park. However, I'm sure I'll write more pieces inspired by such a special place in the world.
Please reach out if you want any Zion hiking / sightseeing suggestions (or a tour guide 😎)! I can't wait to be back...
4 days ago | [YT] | 4
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Sam Wu
Next week, @kaleidoscopechamberorchestra performs 🚃 Mass Transit 🚃 across Los Angeles: Orange County (10/24), Pasadena (10/25), Santa Monica (10/26), and Santa Barbara (10/27)!
My music is featured alongside works by Kaija Saariaho, Caroline Shaw, David Baker, Fabien Waksman, and Robert Schumann.
More details and ticketing: kco.la/events
7 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 7
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Sam Wu
🎉 Happy New Year everyone! 🎉
I'm looking forward to my first 2025 performance––the Fox Valley Symphony Orchestra (@foxvalleysymphonyorchestra9664 ), conducted by Kevin Sütterlin, and cellist Eduard Teregulov presents the Midwest première of my cello concerto 🐳 cetacean songs 🐳!
Concert details (2/8/25 in Appleton, WI): www.foxvalleysymphony.com/concerts-and-tickets
1 year ago (edited) | [YT] | 8
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Sam Wu
🚨 ALBUM RELEASE DAY 🚨
Today, string quartet ETHEL (@ethelcentral) and flutist-composer Allison Loggins-Hull releases PERSIST, an album including my work for them, 🌳 Terraria 🌳 !
Terraria "abounds in delicate colours, wisps of sound and sylvan textures." (Gramophone)
Terraria "offer[s] a poetic meditation on terrariums as dynamic spaces to imagine flourishing." (I Care if You Listen)
Out on all streaming platforms.
1 year ago | [YT] | 8
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Sam Wu
Last Saturday (Nov. 2nd), @ThePhiladelphiaOrchestra , Maestra @MarinAlsopConducts , and baritone Zhou Zhengzhong performed my "Quiet Thoughts by Night" in Beijing!
"Quiet Thoughts" sets one of Tang dynasty poet 李白 Li Po's best known poems.
This is a collaboration with the I SING International Young Artists Festival, and takes place in Beijing's National Center for the Performing Arts 國家大劇院––almost 10 years after my first première there!
1 year ago | [YT] | 10
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Sam Wu
I'm thrilled to be back in Boston for a performance of 🦅 Eagle Huntress 🦅 with the Apollo Ensemble of Boston and their music director Elias Miller in two weeks! My piece shares the program with Tchaikovsky's "Serenade for Strings" and Mozart's Symphony No. 39.
Concert details (Nov. 8, 8 pm): www.apolloensembleofboston.com
🦅 Eagle Huntress 🦅 also returns to Beijing next February (where it was premièred!), as part of the Association for Music in International Schools Asian High School Honor Orchestra festival––more details soon!
1 year ago | [YT] | 8
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Sam Wu
I'm looking forward to two performances of my transit-inspired music this weekend!!
On Sat 10/5, Soundbox Ventures features my piano quintet, 🚃 Mass Transit 🚃, in Sarasota, FL, as part of their program "Nothing is Forever"
On Sun 10/6, Courtney Miller and Suzanne Polak bring my oboe and piano work, ✈️ Glass Terminals ✈️, on tour to the University of South Carolina in Columbia, SC
More details:
antelope-plane-5xra.squarespace.com/events/scf-202…
www.sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/music/concerts_a…
1 year ago | [YT] | 4
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Sam Wu
Upcoming concert on Sept. 24th, at @KaufmanMusicCenter in New York City:
Allison Loggins-Hull, flute + string quartet @ethelcentral perform "Terraria"
More details: www.kaufmanmusiccenter.org/mch/event/ethel/
1 year ago (edited) | [YT] | 4
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