Piano prodigy plays French chamber pieces for new album

In 2007, Wu was invited by a recording company to perform as part of a trio. She chose two schoolmates from the Menuhin school to join her, violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky and cellist Leonard Elschenbroich, and the three formed the Sitkovetsky Trio shortly after. In 2017, cellist Isang Enders joined the trio in replacement of Elschenbroich.

Apart from the experience gained at school, Wu says a reason for choosing to work as a trio was that being a solo pianist can be "too lonely".

"The chamber music experience gave me lifelong friends. Also, every time we rehearse together, we each share our personal understanding and expression of the music style. I feel we have been constantly inspiring each other, and we can always learn something new from each other," she says.

For this new release, the trio took a new approach in promoting the album, and classical music in general. They made a short animated film on the story of Ravel, with the second movement of Ravel's Piano Trio in A Minor as the background music.

Wu says the inspiration for making the animation came from the cartoon series her children were watching on TV, the background music of which fascinated her greatly. She says she hopes that since children love cartoons so much, combining them with classical music will spark the interest of more children, especially those who don't necessarily have much exposure to the art form.

"Classical music is something that children should be given the opportunity to listen to at a young age in order to appreciate it when they're older. Even if they can only listen to it once or twice a week, it will become a part of them, and they will grow with it," she says.

"So I think the best way to promote classical music among the younger generation is to help them absorb it from a young age and embed it in youth education."

She says the trio will continue to produce more of these classical music cartoons and, perhaps one day, the trio will screen the short films at their concerts, so that the audience can learn about the stories of the composers while appreciating the music.

Apart from performing, she has also founded the Investec International Music Festival at Surrey Hills near the Yehudi Menuhin School, and has been appointed associate professor of chamber music at Southern Methodist University in the United States.

"It's my responsibility to not only perform, but also always give advice to, or teach, younger generations and pass on what I have learned. Whenever I have time, I always want to give workshops and master classes to help, and hopefully inspire, more musicians of the younger generation," Wu says.