A winner of Astral’s 2015 National Auditions, flutist Annie Wu performs everything from the traditional repertoire to a work for beat box flute, and embraces music as a way to tell stories. Annie and pianist Feng Niu visited the WRTI Performance Studio to play works by Robert Schumann, Gabriella Lena Frank, and Thierry Lancino. WRTI’s Susan Lewis, host.
Program:
Thierry Lancin, Cinq Caprices, I. Souple et lumineux
Robert Schumann (arr Jacques Larocque) Fantasiestücke, Op.73 for flute and piano II. Lebhaft, leicht
Robert Schumann, “Kennst du das Land?” from Lieder und Gesänge aus 'Wilhelm Meister', Op. 98a, No. 1
Gabriela Lena Frank, Sueños de Chambi: Snapshots for an Andean Album IV. P’asña Marcha
Annie's playing has been praised for its "bright incisive tone" and “melting beauty.” —The Mercury News, San Francisco. Her Astral recital, titled Folk x Fantasy x Flute, is on Saturday, November 2, at 7:30 PM at the Church of the Holy Trinity on Rittenhouse Square in Philadephia.
More about the artists:
When she was 15, Annie Wu garnered widespread attention for her 2011 performance of Greg Pattillo’s Three Beats for Beatbox Flute, which received over 2 million hits on YouTube!
A U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts, she’s won honors in a variety of competitions, including Astral's 2015 National Auditions, the 2016 James Pappoutsakis Flute Competition, and the 2014 Yamaha Young Performing Artist Competition.
She has been soloist with the San Francisco Symphony, Vienna International Orchestra, California Symphony, Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, Livermore-Amador Symphony, Diablo Symphony Orchestra, and the San Jose Chamber Orchestra.
In 2018, she graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a degree in Comparative Literature and New England Conservatory with a Masters in Flute Performance. She and her duo partner, Feng Niu released a debut album, They Call Me Mignon: 11 Variations on a Voice, which references Goethe’s character Mignon, and explores how the flute can emulate the voice and expand one girl’s story.
Boston-based Chinese pianist Feng Niu received her early piano training at Shanghai Conservatory and made her solo recital debut at the age of 10. She was a top prize winner at the Hong Kong Young Pianist Competition, Yamaha Asia Piano Competition, and Lagny Sur Marne International Piano Competition in France.
She came to the U.S. in 2012 to study at the New England Conservatory, where she is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Musical Arts.
She collaborates with a variety of artists. Highlights of her recent and upcoming performances include appearances at the “First Monday Series” in Boston’s Jordan Hall, Strathmore’s “Music at the Mansion”, the Cranbrook Guild Music Series in Michigan, and the Phillips Collections’s “Sunday Concerts Series” in Washington DC. She has been a staff pianist at Bowdoin International Music Festival since 2018.
