Daisy Wu, Alfred University music faculty, performs with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic
Daisy Wu, clinical associate professor of music and language at Alfred University and a master of the guzheng, a traditional Chinese stringed instrument, performed recently with the Fort Wayne (Indiana) Philharmonic.
Wu joined the Fort Wayne Philharmonic for the “Year of the Dragon: A Lunar New Year Celebration Concert,” held Jan. 27 at the Arts United Center Theater at Fort Wayne. As a special guest soloist, Daisy played the guzheng concerto “Fishing Boats Sing Evening” with the philharmonic. It is a symphonic work adapted from multiple versions of traditional Chinese fishing songs.
The conductor, Troy Wendell said this was the first time in the nearly 100-year history of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic that they have collaborated and played with the guzheng. Although most of the audience had never seen this instrument, the concert proved a great success, Wu related.
The audience gave Wu a standing ovation, which was followed by her performing an encore solo piece called “Dragon Boat Race on the Miluo River.”
“Your playing was absolutely magnificent –I was tearing up at the end of your encore,” Arianna Arnold, the artistic administrative associate of Fort Wayne Philharmonic, said in her email to Wu.