First violinist Christopher Wu joined the orchestra in 1988
Christopher Wu has announced he will retire from his position in the Pittsburgh Symphony, where he holds the Nancy & Jeffery Leininger First Violin Chair.
Serving the Pittsburgh Symphony for 36 years, Wu also performed with the Boston Symphony and the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras during his orchestral career.
Wu is an avid sports fan, and was music director for the weddings of Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and former Pirates star Andrew McCutchen. He has also represented the Pittsburgh Symphony on ESPN and in ads for Eyetique and Allegheny General Hospital.
As a chamber musician, he has performed with Joshua Bell, Gil Shaham, Emanuel Ax and the Muir Quartet. He has appeared at numerous leading Music Festivals such as Aspen, Tanglewood, Brevard, Heidelberg, Savannah, Masterworks, Stockbridge and St. Bart’s Music Festival.
Wu is currently an adjunct professor of violin at Carnegie Mellon University. He has taught masterclasses at many universities including Texas, Oklahoma, Penn State, West Virginia, Youngstown, Ottawa and the Boston University at Tanglewood. His students have won prestigious positions in ensembles both in the US and abroad, including the Pittsburgh Symphony, New York Philharmonic and Amsterdam Concertgebouw.
Following retirement, Wu plans to find ways to bring music to mental health patients. Telling the Post Gazette, he said: ’We know anxiety and depression have gotten worse in this country and that pills aren’t the answer for a lot individuals’ situations. Maybe there are some holistic ways that we as musicians can be a part of the solution.’
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