WU Wei, born 1970 in P.R.China, studied the Sheng at the Shanghai Conservatory and was a soloist with the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra before studying at the Hanns Eisler Academy with a DAAD scholarship in Berlin, where he is now based.
In addition to many prestigious national and international competitions for traditional Chinese music, he won the Musica Vitale Competition, Germany, in 1996 and 2002 and the Global Root world music prize in 2004. In 2011 he won the Herald Angels Award by Edinburgh International Festival for Composition of Unsuk Chin „Su-Concertro for Sheng“ with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra under Myung-Whun Chun.
Since 1996 he has appeared as a soloist with many leading orchestras and ensembles, including the Berliner Philharmoniker Orchestras under Kent Nagano, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra under Gustavo Dudamel, the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Ilan Volkov, the Radio France Philharmoic Orchestra and the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra under Myung-Whun Chun, the Netherlands Radio Philharmoic Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra under Kazuyoshi Akiyama, the Munich Symphony Orchestra, the Albany Symphony Orchestra New York, the Belgium Symphony Orchestra Valaanderen, the Taipei Symphony Orchestra, the Taipei Chinese Orchestra, the Luebecker Philharmonic Orchetra, the Westfalen New Philharmonic, the Pannonische Philharmonic Orchestra Austria, the Metropole Orchestra Holland, the Brandenburg Symphony Orchestra, the new Brandenburg Philharmoic Orchestra, Ensemble Modern, the Nieuw Ensemble Holland, Atlas Ensemble Holland, the Chamber Ensemble of the German Symphony Orchestra Berlin, the Luxembourg Sinfonietta, etc.
He has appeared at the Berliner Festspiele, the Munich Bienale, the Edinburgh international festival, the Donaueschingen Musik Tage, the Musica Viva Munich, the Dresdener Festspiele, the Warsaw Autumn, the Suntory music Festival Tokyo, the Bartók Festival Hungarian, the Achipel Festival Geneve, the Cologne Triennal, the Holland Festival, Festival les Musiques Marseille etc., and at the Berliner Philharmonie, the Walt Disney Hall Los Angeles, Suntory Hall Tokyo, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Berlin Konzerthaus, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the User Hall Edinburgh, and the Théatre du Chatelet Paris etc.
His international engagements include appearances throughout the USA, Canada, South America, Europe, Russia, and the Middle and Far East, and he has given the world premieres of more than 150 works (including ten concertos for Sheng and Orchestra), by composers including John Cage, Unsuk Chin, Toshio Hosokawa, Enjott Schneider, Joerg Widmann, Guus Janssen, Tan Dun, Chen Qigang, Guo Weijing and Ruo Huang.
He is also a prolific composer for Sheng. He already received various composition commissions, such as the foundation Royaumont in 2004, “Musica Viva” Munich in 2005, the Hanse culture foundation in 2009, the Civitella Ranieri foundation New York in 2010, and the cultural foundation Sachsen in 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2011.
WU Wei is an avant-garde Sheng soloist. He has helped to develop this four thousand’s years old ancient instrument into an innovative force in contemporary music, through the creation of new techniques, expanding the new repertories and integreating different styles and genres.
http://www.wuweimusic.com/