1st prize winners at the 23rd V.E Rimbotti International string quartet competition Italy 2012, the Wu Quartet has also received the 2011 Artis Quartet prize in Vienna and 2nd prize and the Baerenreiter prize at the 2012 Charles Hennen Concours in Holland. In September 2011 the quartet reached the semi-finals of the Beijing International String Quartet Competition – their 1st entry in a major competition. The quartet has received awards from the Hattori Foundation and the Musicians Benevolent Fund and in 2010 was selected for the Park Lane Group Young Artists scheme as well as winning the MMSF/Philharmonia Orchestra Ensemble Award. In 2010/2011 they were King Charles Junior Fellows at Trinity College of Music in London and have also been ‘String Quartet in Residence’ for a year at Repton School in Derbyshire.
In 2011 the quartet gained entry into the European Chamber Music Academy, allowing it the opportunity to study at conservatoires around Europe with some of the world’s finest chamber musicians. On ECMA they have studied with Johannes Meissl (Artis Quartet), Evgenia Ephstein (Aviv Quartet), Peter Cropper (Lindsay Quartet), Petr Prause (Talich Quartet) and Avedis Kouyoumdjian.
In 2012/2013 the quartet continues its participation in ECMA and is now being mentored personally by its founder, Hatto Beyerle (Alban Berg Quartet) with whom they study in regular private sessions in Germany.
In the UK it participates in the King’s Place Chamber Studio programme and works closely with Richard Ireland and Simon Rowland Jones (founder members of the Chilingirian Quartet). They have also attended masterclasses at IMS Prussia Cove and ISA Prague/Budapest/Wien.
The quartet has played in masterclasses to many great musicians, including Bernard Greenhouse (Beaux Arts Trio), Ferenc Rados, Shmuel Ashkenazy (Vermeer Quartet), Christoph Richter and David Waterman (Endellion Quartet). The Wu Quartet has collaborated in concert with musicians such as Simon Rowland Jones, Roger Vignoles, Mark Padmore, Guy Johnston and Richard Harwood.
The Wu Quartet performs regularly across the UK and Europe. In 2011 it made its Wigmore Hall debut, returning in July 2012 to play as part of the IMF Prussia Cove 40th anniversary celebrations. They have performed at the Purcell Room, St John’s Smith Square, Music in the Round, the Arnold Schoenberg Centre in Vienna, the International Concert Hall in Beijing, Santa Croce in Florence, Snape Maltings, Buckingham Palace and at many chamber music societies. In March 2012 they undertook an Aldeburgh Residency at Snape Maltings. The quartet has also appeared twice on BBC Radio 3s ‘In Tune’ program and on Radio 4 Holland. In 2012 it gave a series of concerts for Kirker Music Holidays in Sussex. In the coming months it will give recitals at Bridgewater Hall, Leeds Town Hall, the Kalkalpen Kammermusik Festival in Austria, North Norfolk Music Festival and Conway Hall.
Highlights for 2013 include a return to Wigmore Hall for the ECMA Showcase concert, a series of concerts at the Teatro Communale in Florence and the surrounding area, a tour of Scotland and another Kirker Music Holiday.