1.00pm on Tuesday 18th of March

Live and Free at Scots’ Church

Host: Joel Crotty

Charlie Wu

         Mozart          Sonata in D major, K 311, 1st and 2nd mvts                 Allegro con spirito, Andante con espressione

         Chopin          The Four Scherzos   

                                Scherzo No 1 in B minor, Opus 2                                Scherzo No 2 in Bb minor, Opus 31

                                Scherzo No 3 in C# minor, Opus 39                             Scherzo No 4 in E major, Opus 54

         Chopin          Waltz in Eb Opus 18

         Liszt              Transcendental Etude No 4 ‘Mazeppa’

12-year-old Charlie Wu is one of Australia’s brightest young piano talents, studying piano with renowned pedagogue Glenn Riddle.

He is currently a Year 7 scholarship student at Caulfield Grammar. In June Charlie was invited by Artistic Director and concert pianist Denis Matsuev to be Australia’s representative in the Grand Piano Festival held in Moscow. Charlie not only presented a 30-minute solo recital, he also made his concerto debut in the legendary Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory performing Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No 1 with the Russian State Academic Symphony Orchestra, one of the Russia’s greatest orchestras.

Charlie then had two subsequent 2024 concerto performances of the Mendelssohn Concerto with the Preston Symphony Orchestra and the Whitehorse Symphony Orchestra. In September Charlie was awarded his LMusA diploma with Distinction, where his performance was commended for displaying ‘exceptional qualities of artistic insight’ and ‘transcendental virtuosity’. A keen chamber musician, in 2024 Charlie also performed Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with the Cloud Concert Youth Orchestra (CCYO) together with cellist Maggie Wang and violinist Claire Huang.

Other recent successes for Charlie include winning the 2024 Bill Borthwick Prize, the 2023 National PolMusicA Polish Music Prize as well as being the youngest ever finalist in the Musical Society of Victoria’s Hephzibah Menuhin Award for pianists 25 and under. Charlie has won numerous First prizes at the Ballarat, Ringwood, Melbourne, and Boroondara eisteddfods. In June Charlie has been invited to perform Liszt’s Piano Concerto No 2 with the Melbourne Sinfonia.

Charlie also studies violin and is a keen competitive tennis player, swimmer, and chess player.