CJ Wu is a dynamic and expressive young conductor, with a background as a professional violinist in her native Taiwan.

CJ has been invited to major competitions and masterclasses including the inaugural International Conducting Competition Rotterdam, the Britten Pears Young Artist Conducting Academy (Antonio Pappano), BBC Concert Orchestra Women Conductors (Marin Alsop), the Riccardo Muti Tokyo Opera Academy and Accademia Musicale Chigiana (Daniele Gatti).

In December 2021 CJ was selected by Riccardo Muti to participate in his Opera Academy, working on Nabucco for a concert performance at the Fondazione Prada in Milan. She was then invited at very short notice to stand in for an indisposed Maestro Muti at further performances in Ravenna and Rimini with the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini and Coro Cremona Antiqua. In the 2021-2022 season, she worked with the Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra, the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra, the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, and Odense Symphony Orchestra in Denmark.

CJ Wu won the 1st Prize at the Brass Band Conductors’ Association (BBCA) Conducting Competition in the UK in 2021 and the 1st Prize of the Progetto Johannes Brahms by Filarmonica Gioachino Rossini in Pesaro. In 2019, she conducted Brahms’ Symphonies No.1 and No.2 at the Teatro Rossini in Pesaro sharing the podium with Maestro Donato Renzetti.

During the 2018-19 season, CJ was a Visiting Artist at Cornell University, where she conducted and coached the symphony and chamber orchestras. She also assisted the Taipei Civic Symphony Orchestra, returning later as guest conductor.

CJ has been assistant to conductors such as Vasily Petrenko, Omer Meir Wellber, and Simone Young at the BBC Philharmonic and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestras. In masterclasses, CJ has worked with Sir Mark Elder, Christian Ewald, Sigmund Thorp, Martin Sieghart, Ludovic Morlot, Nicolas Pasquet, Johannes Schlaefli, Omer Meir Wellber, Mark Wigglesworth and Simone Young.

She has appeared in concert with Manchester’s professional contemporary music ensemble, Psappha, and in master classes with the Manchester Camerata, Northern Ballet Sinfonia, and North East Wales Sinfonia. Her graduation concert from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, where she studied conducting under Mark Heron and Clark Rundell, took place in 2021 with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.

As a violinist, CJ received her Master’s degree in 2010 and has worked with most of Taiwan’s professional orchestras, including as a concertmaster. She is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Taipei Chamber Music Ensemble and the Rhein String Quartet. CJ is currently completing her Soloist Diploma in Conducting at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in the class of Professor Giordano Bellincampi.