Joanna Wu

principal flute, spokane symphony
All-14K Custom Heavy-wall Flute, 14K Headjoint, Offset, B Footjoint, E Mech, C# Trill
purchased from flutistry

Joanna Wu holds the Principal Flute position with the Spokane Symphony. Originally from New York State, she has cultivated an international presence across North America, Asia, and Europe, performing at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Canadian Opera Company, Koerner Hall, Esplanade Concert Hall, Suntory Hall, Taipei National Theater and Concert Hall, and United Nations Headquarters. Broadcast on Chinese National CCTV, Performance Today, and NPR, her performances have received wide acclaim. Previously serving as Associate Principal Flute of the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra, she has collaborated with members of Orchestre de Paris, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Haifa Symphony Orchestra, and performed with Shanghai Opera House, New World Symphony, New Haven Symphony, Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra, and The Syracuse Orchestra. She has worked under the baton of Riccardo Muti, Jaap van Zweden, Daniel Oren, Valery Gergiev, Peter Oundjian, Carolyn Kuan, Roberto Abbado, Bramwell Tovey, Gabor Takacs-Nagy, Yu Long, Xu Zhong, and Shin-ik Hahm.

Ms. Wu has performed at Chamber Music Northwest and collaborated with Against the Grain Ensemble on JUNO-nominated album, Ayre. She performed Nielsen’s Flute Concerto with the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra and Yale Philharmonia, and premiered Joseph Schwantner’s Chapel Music with the Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra. As part of the Yale in New York series, she performed the Nielsen Wind Quintet at Carnegie Hall, earning praise from the New York Classical Review. She has premiered works by Osvaldo Golijov, Bright Sheng, and Hannah Lash, and is co-founder of GuJo Duo, a flute and percussion ensemble dedicated to contemporary music. Ms. Wu was a Fellow with the Rebanks Family Fellowship Program in Canada, and her accolades include the Thomas Daniel Nyfenger Prize, Farwell Trust Award from the Musicians Club of Women, top prizes from the NFA Young Artist Competition, and first prizes in the Woolsey Hall Concerto Competition, Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra Instrumental Competition, and American Protégé International Competition.

An active educator, Ms. Wu has given classes at Soochow University School of Music and Zhejiang Conservatory of Music, worked with students at the Shanghai International Youth Orchestra, established studios in North America and Asia, and was a teaching artist at the Music In Schools Initiative program in New Haven. In addition, she is an avid pianist, having collaborated with Suzhou Symphony Orchestra members, the flute studios of Yale University and Northwestern University, and local ensembles and chamber groups. She holds degrees in flute and piano performance from the Yale School of Music and Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music. Her primary teachers include Ransom Wilson, Susan Hoeppner, Walfrid Kujala, John Thorne, and John Oberbrunner. She is a Wm. S. Haynes Artist and plays a custom 14K handmade flute.