Artistic Directors: David Finckel and Wu Han
The Martin Family Artistic Directorship
Music@Menlo founders and artistic co-directors since 2003, and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center artistic co-directors since 2004, cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han continue to navigate the high seas of classical music in the multiple roles of performers, artistic leaders, recording producers, educators and cultural entrepreneurs. Recipients of Musical America’s Musicians of the Year award, they have appeared at the world’s most prestigious venues presenting duo repertoire that spans virtually the entire literature for their instruments. Last season, the duo designed and produced 270 digital concerts and educational events which sustained chamber music communities across the United States during the pandemic. Founders of ArtistLed, the classical music industry’s first musician-directed, internet-based recording company, they have released more than 20 CD’s of duo and chamber repertoire over two decades, as well as overseeing (and often performing in) more than 150 releases on both the Music@Menlo Live and CMS Live labels. Passionately committed to education, Wu Han and David Finckel oversee Music@Menlo’s annual Chamber Music Institute, as well as the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Bowers Program, which attracts and nurtures the most promising young artists from all over the world.
Born in Taiwan, Wu Han came to the United States as a graduate student where her talent quickly came to the attention of noted musicians. Mentored by some of the world’s greatest pianists, among them Lilian Kallir, Menahem Pressler and Rudolf Serkin, Wu Han thrived at the Marlboro and Aspen Music Festivals and subsequently won the prestigious Andrew Wolf Award. She currently serves as artistic advisor for both Wolf Trap’s Chamber Music in the Barns series and for Palm Beach’s Society of the Four Arts. David Finckel was raised in New Jersey where he spent his teenage years winning competitions, among them the Philadelphia Orchestra’s junior and senior divisions, resulting in two performances with the orchestra. The first American student of Mstislav Rostropovich, David Finckel went on to become the cellist of the Emerson String Quartet, which, during David’s 34-season tenure, garnered nine Grammy Awards and the Avery Fisher Prize. David is a professor at both the Juilliard School and Stony Brook University.
David Finckel and Wu Han married in 1985 and divide their time between touring and residences in New York City and Westchester County. Their daughter Lilian lives and works in Brooklyn as an aspiring artist.
For more information, please visit www.davidfinckelandwuhan.com.