Wen-Lei Gu has performed actively throughout North America, Europe, and the Far East as soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. A recipient of numerous awards, she was the silver medalist in the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition and the Ima Hogg Young Artists Competition, and a prize winner in the Michael Hill International Violin Competition and the California International Young Artists Competition. In 2005, she won first prize in the Heida Hermanns International String Competition. Miss Gu has performed in such distinguished venues as the Berlin Philharmonic Hall, Smetana Hall in Prague, La Sala Verdi in Milan, the Beijing Concert Hall, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall and Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Born into a musical family, Ms. Gu started to play the piano and the violin at a young age. At age twelve, she won first prize in China’s Fourth National Violin Competition. At the age of thirteen, she was invited to perform the Saint–Saëns Violin Concerto in England with Yehudi Menuhin at the baton. Menuhin said of her playing: “sounds like a poem, looks like a painting.” Since coming to America at the same age, Gu has performed frequently as guest soloist with orchestras and at concert series throughout the world.
In 2000, Ms. Gu performed as soloist with the Bergen Philharmonic in the Opening Concert of the Millennium at the John Harms Center for the Arts in New Jersey. During the same year, she performed at the Bach Festival at Carnegie Hall commemorating the 250th Anniversary of Johann Sebastian Bach’s death. In 2003, Ms. Gu made her concerto debut with the Houston Symphony to an audience of five thousand; the concert was broadcast live on KUHF 88.7 FM. In 2004, she was the recipient of the prestigious Presser Award from the Theodore Presser Foundation for achievement in music. In 2005, Ms. Gu was the soloist with the China Beijing Philharmonic on its critically acclaimed tour of Europe. Her 2007-2008 concert engagements include recital tours in China, live radio broadcasts on Wisconsin Public Radio’s Live from the Chazen and Chicago WFMT Radio’s Live from Studio One, concerto appearances with the Hong Kong Pan Asia Symphony, the Harper Symphony in Chicago, and the Lawrence Symphony Orchestra on its Midwest concert tour.
Ms. Gu received her Bachelor Degree in Music from the Juilliard School, and an M.M. from the Mannes College of Music. She is in the final stages of her D.M.A. in violin performance at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Her teachers include Yao-Ji Lin, Bin Chao, Dorothy Delay, Ida Kavafian, and Miriam Fried. In addition, she has studied chamber music with Felix Galimir, Menaham Pressler, and Janos Starker. Since 2006, Ms. Gu has been the assistant professor of music at the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music in Appleton, Wisconsin. She frequently adjudicates as a string judge in regional and state music competitions.
Contact by e-mail: wen-lei.gu@lawrence.edu