Artistic Directors

David Finckel and Wu Han

The Martin Family Artistic Directorship

Music@Menlo Founders and Artistic Directors David Finckel and Wu Han lead multifaceted careers as concert performers, recording artists, educators, arts administrators, and cultural entrepreneurs, placing them in the ranks of today’s most esteemed and influential classical musicians. Their busy seasons include performances as a duo and as chamber musicians (including, in David Finckel’s case, over one hundred concerts annually as cellist of the Emerson String Quartet) and appearances in the world’s most prestigious concert series and festivals. The duo’s repertoire spans the entire literature for cello and piano. Their commitment to new music has brought commissioned works by Bruce Adolphe, Lera Auerbach, Gabriela Lena Frank, and Augusta Read Thomas to audiences around the world, including last season’s world premiere of Pierre Jalbert’s Cello Sonata at the Aspen Music Festival. They are premiering a new work for cello and piano by award-winning composer George Tsontakis during the spring of 2009. Since 2004, David Finckel and Wu Han have served as Artistic Directors of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Their wide-ranging musical activities also have included the launch of ArtistLed, classical music’s first musician-directed and Internet-based recording company. All eleven ArtistLed recordings have received critical acclaim and are available via the company’s Web site at www.artistled.com. This season, ArtistLed released a recording of the Schubert piano trios, featuring David Finckel, Wu Han, and violinist Philip Setzer. In recent years, David Finckel and Wu Han have become widely recognized for their initiatives in expanding audiences for classical music and for guiding the careers of countless young musicians.