The artistry of sheng virtuoso WU WEI reaches far beyond the traditional boundaries of his more than 3,000-year-old Chinese instrument and brings it well into the twenty-first century. The sheng, a mouth organ formed out of a bundle of bamboo reeds and cased in a metal bowl, sounds as the singing phoenix from a Chinese legend: silvery and fleeting as the wind. Wu Wei’s radiant and transparent tone—as well as the infinite possibilities offered by his instrument in terms of melody, harmony, rhythm, and polyphony—have led him to collaborate with many artists, composers, and ensembles.

In the last decade, he has performed with the Berlin, New York, Seoul, Helsinki, and Los Angeles philharmonics; BBC Symphony; Frankfurt Radio Symphony; Holland Baroque; and Ensemble intercontemporain. He makes his San Francisco Symphony debut at these performances. Wu Wei is regularly invited by international festivals including the BBC Proms, Festival d’Automne à Paris, Donaueschinger Musiktage, Edinburgh International Festival, Suntory Hall Summer Festival, Dresdener Musikfestspiele, Festival Achtbrücken Köln, Grafenegg Festival, and Lincoln Center Festival. With violist Martin Stegner and bassist Janne Saksala, both members of the Berlin Philharmonic, he founded the Wu Wei Trio, which appears each season in the Chamber Music Hall of the Berlin Philharmonie. As a founder of the Berlin-based Ensemble Asianart, he shares transcultural programs with instrumentalists from all around the world.

Jean-Yves Thibaudet has earned a reputation as one of the world’s finest pianists. He is especially known for his diverse interests beyond the classical world—in addition to his many forays into jazz and opera, he has collaborated with film, fashion, and visual art. He is a devoted educator and the first-ever artist in residence at the Colburn School, which awards several scholarships in his name.

This season, Thibaudet performs with the Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Seatle Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Royal Philharmonic Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestra Zurich, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie, Munich Philharmonic, Shanghai Symphony, National Symphony of Taiwan, and Macao Orchestra.

Thibaudet has appeared on more than 70 albums and six film scores; his extensive catalogue has received two Grammy nominations, two Echo Awards, the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik, the Diapason d’Or, the Choc du Monde de la Musique, the Edison Prize, and Gramophone awards. Recent recordings include Gershwin Rhapsody with Michael Feinstein; Night After Night, a celebration of James Newton Howard’s scores for the films of M. Night Shyamalan; and Carte Blanche, a collection of deeply personal solo piano pieces.

He was soloist on Aaron Zigman’s score for Wakefield, Dario Marianelli’s scores for the films Atonement (which won an Oscar for Best Original Score) and Pride and Prejudice, as well as Alexandre Desplat’s soundtracks for Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close and Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch. He had a cameo in Bruce Beresford’s film on Alma Mahler, Bride of the Wind, and his playing is showcased throughout.

Thibaudet was born in Lyon, where he began his piano studies at age five, and entered the Paris Conservatory at 12. He made his San Francisco Symphony debut in 1994, and last year soloed in a multisensory performance of Scriabin’s Prometheus in collaboration with Esa-Pekka Salonen and Cartier. Among his awards are the Victoire d’Honneur, induction into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame, and being named an Officier by the French Ministry of Culture.