A member of the New York Philharmonic cello section beginning September 2007, Wei Yu has appeared regularly as a substitute cellist with the New York Philharmonic and The Cleveland Orchestra. Most recently, he was invited to join the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra’s USA 70th Anniversary tour led by Zubin Mehta and Lorin Maazel. He has participated in open master classes conducted by pianist Leon Fleisher, violist Kim Kashkashian, and cellists Lynn Harrell, Ralph Kirshbaum, Joel Krosnick, and Janos Starker, and was invited to play for Mstislav Rostropovich at the Seventh American Cello Congress in 2003.

Born in Shanghai, China, Mr. Yu has been the top prize winner of many competitions, including the Hudson Valley Philharmonic String Competition, Holland American Music Society Cello, Music Teacher National Association (MTNA National Collegiate Strings), Canada’s National Music Festival, Calgary’s Kiwanis Festival, and China’s National Cello competitions. He was also invited to participate in the XII International Tchaikovsky Competition 2002 in Moscow.

An active chamber musician, Mr. Yu has been invited to the Marlboro and Ravinia music festivals, and has recently collaborated with musicians such as cellist David Soyer, pianist Richard Goode, violinists Midori and Pinchas Zukerman, and members of the Guarneri and Juilliard Quartets. Mr. Yu gave a recital on the Catherine & Mary Roth concert series in Washington D.C., with pianist Francis Conlon.

Wei Yu toured Japan as principal cellist of the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra under Bernard Haitink, Edo de Waart, Wei-Pin Chien, and Yutaka Sado. His performances have been live and in recording on Chicago’s 98.7 WFMT, Finnish Radio Broadcasting Company, and the CBC’s “Our Music” in Canada.

Mr. Yu began studying the cello at age four and made his concerto debut with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra at age 11 playing the Elgar Cello Concerto. He came to the United States in 2000 to work with Hans Jensen of Northwestern University. He received his master’s degree from The Juilliard School, studying with David Soyer on a full scholarship, with the support of the Irene Diamond Graduate Fellowship.

Photo of Wei Yu: Chris Lee