Music@Menlo Artistic Directors David Finckel and Wu Han Named
Musicians of the Year
Musicians of the Year
Musical America, founded in 1898 as the indispensable resource for the performing arts, today announced the winners of its annual Musical America Awards, recognizing artistic excellence and achievement in the arts.
For the first time in the fifty year history of these awards, Musical America honors two musicians with its prestigious Musicians of the Year award: cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han. Critics have long praised their boldness, imagination, and collaborative intimacy, but their performing virtuosity is only the starting point of their achievements. Their artistic direction of such important organizations as the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Music@Menlo Chamber Music Festival and Institute, which they cofounded in 2003, coupled with a history of innovation in programming, recording, and outreach, have combined to create a revolution in the traditionally quiet world of chamber music—in the process building new audiences and rearing a new wave of players.
“Music@Menlo congratulates David and Wu Han for this incredible honor—truly celebrating their lifelong commitment to engaging audiences in the chamber music art form and to training and nurturing the next generation of artists,” notes Edward Sweeney, Executive Director of Music@Menlo.
David Finckel received his first cello at age ten and at seventeen became the first American to study with the great Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. In 1979 he became cellist of the Emerson String Quartet (Musical America’s Ensemble of the Year in 2000). Wu Han came to the United States from her native Taiwan at age twenty, subsequently studying with Lilian Kallir and Leon Fleisher at the Aspen and Marlboro Music Schools. This dynamic husband-and-wife duo was the first to initiate its own Internet-based record label, ArtistLed. Now in the thirtieth year of their musical collaboration, Finckel says, “Passing the torch became a huge priority in our lives. There is nothing more gratifying. We are in a blessed position.”
Meredith Monk, Jaap van Zweden, Gil Shaham, and Jonas Kaufmann were recognized as Composer, Conductor, Instrumentalist, and Vocalist of the Year.
Past recipients of the Musician of the Year award, which was established in 1960, have included Leonard Bernstein (1960 and 1989), Igor Stravinsky (1962), Benjamin Britten (1964), Itzhak Perlman (1981), James Levine (1984), Isaac Stern (1986), Mstislav Rostropovich (1987), Wynton Marsalis (2004), and Yo-Yo Ma (2009), among other distinguished artists.
The announcement coincides with the publication of the 2012 Musical America International Directory of the Performing Arts, which, in addition to its comprehensive industry listings, pays homage to each of these artists in its editorial pages.
Learn more:
About Music@Menlo
About David Finckel and Wu Han