Cong Wu

Classical strings faculty member (viola) beginning in fall 2024

Cong Wu joined the New York Philharmonic as Assistant Principal Viola, The Norma and Lloyd Chazen Chair, in September 2018. He is the winner of the Third Prize and the Chamber Music Prize in the Fourteenth Primrose International Viola Competition, and of the Special Prize in the Twelfth Tertis International Viola Competition. His performances throughout North America and Asia include solo appearances with the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, New York Classical Players, and the Long Island Concert Orchestra.

An avid chamber musician, Wu has collaborated with renowned artists such as Christoph Eschenbach, David Finckel, Hilary Hahn, Itzhak Perlman, Peter Wiley, Pinchas Zukerman, the American String Quartet, and many New York Philharmonic musicians.

His festival engagements have included the Marlboro Music Festival, the Perlman Music Program, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Chamber Music Encounters, Music@Menlo, the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, Chestnut Hill Concerts, the Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival, and the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival in Germany. He also appears regularly with the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players, East Coast Chamber Orchestra, and New York Classical Players.

Passionate about teaching, Wu is on the viola faculty of the Manhattan School of Music and has taught at the Shanghai Orchestra Academy. He had formly served on the faculty of SUNY Purchase College Conservatory of Music, as well as been a guest faculty member of the National Arts Centre Summer Music Institute in Canada. He has been invited to give masterclasses at the Mead Witter School of Music (University of Wisconsin-Madison), China Conservatory of Music, Hong Kong Baptist University, and the Renmin University of China.

Born in Jinan, China, Cong (pronounced “Ts’ong”) Wu moved to New York in 2010 after graduating from the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music. He holds a master’s degree from The Juilliard School and a doctoral degree with the Helen Cohn Award from the Manhattan School of Music. His teachers have included Wing Ho, Heidi Castleman, Hsin-Yun Huang, Patinka Kopec, and Pinchas Zukerman.