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Annie Wu

Annie Wu, 16-year-old beatbox flutist (and classical flutist)

About Me

August 18, 2012

Annie Wu is a 16-year-old classical flutist who – much to her surprise – in 2012 became known all over the world as a beatbox flutist.

At the age of 15, Annie Wu won First Prize in the National Flute Association’s High School Soloist Competition in 2011 in Charlotte, North Carolina, performing works for flute and piano by G. Ph. Telemann and Henri Dutilleux. She was the youngest first prize winner in NFA history.

At the NFA Convention, she also won First Prize for Best Performance of a New Work Commissioned by the National Flute Association. This work was “Three Beats for Beatbox Flute,” composed by Greg Pattillo. This piece is a virtuoso tour-de-force for flute alone that requires the flutist to play the flute, sing, and make percussive sounds with the mouth – all at the same time. These percussive sounds imitate the rhythm section of a band. Following the award of this special prize, Annie made a video for YouTube of Patillo’s composition, under the supervision of the composer. Patillo posted it on his YouTube beatbox channel. In August 2012, that video surpassed 434,000 hits!

You can hear Annie’s beatbox video on YouTube. Just jump to the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObUREzucuW8

A student of French flutist Isabelle Chapuis, Annie is now a junior at Foothill High School in Pleasanton. She is a flutist in the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, which just recently completed an 8-city tour of major European music capitals. Among the highlights of this tour: Annie played principal flute in performances of Mahler’s First Symphony in the concert hall of the Berlin Philharmoniker, and in Munich in the Philharmonie am Gasteig. In San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall, Annie played principal flute in Debussy’s “Prelude a l’Apres-midi d’un faune,” and Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf.”

Two weeks after returning from her summer orchestral tour, Annie was off to Europe again. This time, she was invited to appear as a soloist with the Vienna International Orchestra under the baton of Michele Santorsola. During her concert at the Schloss Halbturn (the summer castle of Empress Marie Theresa,) Annie performed Mozart’s Flute Concerto No. 2 in D Major. Following her performance of this concerto, the audience called her to the stage three times, and then began cheering for an encore. Annie played Greg Pattillo’s Three Beats for Beatbox Flute – and the Viennese public went wild!

As a result of the extraordinary success of her beatbox video on YouTube, she was invited by JiveWorld.com to perform Greg Pattillo's “Three Beats for Beatbox Flute” at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas. She also performed the work at the Intercontinental Hotel in San Francisco. You can hear Annie’s performance at the JiveWorld Convention in Las Vegas. Just jump to the following link on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8CLKiYBXjM

Annie was featured in an article in the National Flute Association Quarterly Magazine entitled “Confessions of a Beatbox Flutist.” She also appeared in an interview on San Francisco’s KGO Radio (810 AM).

Annie has just been invited to appear as soloist with the San Francisco Symphony in November 2012 and February 2013. She will appear with the SFS in seven Family Concerts around the Bay Area. On the concert on February 23, 2013, she will be perform a movement of the Flute Concerto by Jacques Ibert in Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco. You can hear Annie perform the Ibert Flute Concerto with piano accompaniment. Just jump to the following three videos on YouTube:

First movement

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z79CqlRveeQ

Second Movement

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUuw0XXMp5E&feature=relmfu

Third Movement (this movement is influenced by le Hot Jazz in Paris in the 1920s.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f36nNf4ZjTA

In June 2012, Annie won First Prize in the 2012 Young Artist Competition sponsored by the Diablo Valley Symphony. In addition to her prize, Annie was engaged to perform the Flute Concerto by Jacques Ibert with this orchestra in November 2012.

Annie began to play flute at the age of 8. Her first flute teachers were Shao-Jiang Huang and Esther Landau. At the age of 12, she became the private student of Isabelle Chapuis, Principal Flute of Opera San Jose and Prof. of Flute (now retired) at the School of Music at San Jose State University. Annie also studied intermittently with the soloist Robert Stallman (whenever he toured in California.) Both Chapuis and Stallman were students of world-famous flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal in Paris, and they are noted exponents of the French School of the Flute.

2012 has been a very exciting year for Annie.

In May 2012, Annie soloed with the San Jose (CA) Chamber Orchestra, playing the “Fantaisie pour flûte et orchestra” by French composer Georges Huë.

In October 2012, Annie is scheduled to appear on National Public Radio’s show “From the Top” with Christopher O’Riley, taped live at the Mondavi Center in Davis, California.

Annie has performed in master classes held by many renowned flutists -- such as Robert Stallman, Claude Monteux, Paula Robison, Robert Stallman, Jim Walker, Leone Buyse, Keith Underwood, Jill Felber, Sergio Pallottelli, Liisa Ruoho and Carol Wincenc.

NOEN [German-Language web magazine] August 21, 2012 Chamber Music Concert Amofis Festival at Altenburger Music Academy; Altenburg, Austria [See related photo]

“The best part of the concert was definitely the end: Annie Wu, 16 years old from California, stupefied everyone with “Three Beats for Beatbox Flute” by Greg Pattillo, in which she showed that the flute can play not only by blowing with the mouth but also by making sounds like drums and even a singing accompaniment – all simultaneously. Amazement, excitement and totally deserved huge applause!“

http://www.noen.at/lokales/noe-uebersicht/horn/kultur/-Amofis-nbsp-spielten-fuer-Profiteure;art2431,406139