Steinway & Sons is proud to present the debut album of pianist Elliot Wuu. A Young Steinway Artist, Gilmore Young Artist, and laureate of the 2025 American Piano Awards, Wuu has received numerous top honors at prestigious international competitions. This release showcases his artistry in compelling performances of Debussy’s beloved Suite Bergamasque, Bach’s Capriccio, Schumann’s Kinderszenen, and Schubert’s magnificent “Wanderer” Fantasie.

STEINWAY & SONS releases Elliot Wuu's debut album, Onward - Debussy, Bach, Schumann, Schubert (STNS 30193) on January 2, 2026. In his program notes for the album, Mr. Wuu writes:

The four works on this album embark on a journey: from innocence and nostalgia, to longing and farewell, through dreams and illusions, and the endeavors of the human spirit in its restless striving. Each piece captures a stage of life’s unfolding and reflects the inner journeys we all take as we move onward.

Claude Debussy’s Suite Bergamasque (1890, revised 1905) opens the album with music that balances reflection and playfulness. Inspired by 18th-century dance forms, the suite blends elegance with the shimmering harmonies of Impressionism. Its most famous movement, Clair de lune, offers a dreamlike pause, pondering the night sky in a way that feels both universal and deeply personal.

Johann Sebastian Bach’s Capriccio on the Departure of His Beloved Brother (1704) offers a more literal journey. Composed when Bach was still a teenager, the piece narrates a farewell, moving from his family and friends’ attempts to dissuade him, through their lament, and finally to a joyful and accepting send-off. Its youthful invention suggests that every departure is also the beginning of something new, a forward step into the unknown.

Robert Schumann’s Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood, 1838) turns inward, capturing fleeting moments of innocence and wonder. These short character pieces were not written for children but instead present an adult’s reflections on childhood. They reveal glimpses of clarity, joy, and unguarded emotion that so often fade as we grow older.

Franz Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasy (1822) brings the program to its most expansive and dramatic scale. Its central theme, drawn from Schubert’s song Der Wanderer (1816), returns throughout the four interconnected movements, each time transformed as if by the journey itself.

The music captures the restless spirit of the wanderer, carrying urgency, longing, and a sense of self-discovery. The Fantasy embodies both the perseverance and resilience of the human spirit, concluding not in resolution but with a triumph that carries the journey forward.

Together, these works trace a path of memory, departure, innocence, and ambition. Onward is both title and invitation, a reminder to embrace change, to carry the past into the future with gratitude, and to keep moving forward with curiosity and hope.

— Elliot Wuu 
 

Album Credits

Onward - Debussy, Bach, Schumann, Schubert / Elliot Wuu • STNS 30193

Release Date: 01/02/2026

Recorded October 2 & 4, 2024 at Sono Luminus Studios, Boyce, Virginia.

Producer: Daniel Shores

Engineer: Joshua Frey

Mixing and Mastering: Daniel Shores
 

Executive Producers: Eric Feidner, Jon Feidner, Vivian Chiu

Art Direction: Jackie Fugere

Design: Cover to Cover Design, Anilda Carrasquillo

Photography: Titilayo Ayangade

Product Coordinator: Renée Oakford

Piano Technician: John Veitch

Piano: Steinway Model D #590904 (New York)

About the Artist

Praised for his “power, speed and finesse of artists twice his age” (Tribune Star), pianist Elliot Wuu captivates audiences with his colorful tone, sensitive musicality, and emotional depth. A Young Steinway Artist, he was named a 2018 Gilmore Young Artist—one of the most prestigious honors awarded biennially to just two pianists under 22—and is a 2021 Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant recipient. Wuu was named a laureate of the 2025 American Piano Awards, recognizing him as one of today’s leading young pianists.

Wuu has earned top prizes in numerous international competitions. In 2015, he won First Prize at the Hilton Head International Piano Competition for Young Artists. That same year, he received Second Prize and the Schubert Prize at the International e-Piano Junior Competition. He also won Third Prize and the Mozart Prize at the Cleveland International Piano Competition for Young Artists, as well as Second Prize and the Best Russian Performance Award at the Bösendorfer and Yamaha USASU International Piano Competition. He is also a 2017 National YoungArts Competition winner, a 2014–2016 Young Scholar of the Lang Lang International Music Foundation, and a 2016–2021 member of the Music Teachers’ Association of California Young Artist Guild, the highest distinction for California music students.

Wuu has appeared in major venues across the U.S., Europe, and Asia, including the United Nations Headquarters in New York, Carnegie Hall’s Grammy Salute to Classical Music, the WQXR Greene Space, and Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris. He has performed in prestigious festivals including the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, Music@Menlo, Aspen Festival, Ravinia Festival, La Jolla SummerFest, Hilton Head Bravo Piano, and the Chopin Foundation of the United States. In 2013, he was one of twelve pianists worldwide selected for the inaugural Lang Lang Junior Music Camp in Munich, performing alongside and working with Lang Lang. His performances have also been featured on WQXR’s Young Artists Showcase, NPR’s From the Top, and American Public Media’s Performance Today.

Wuu made his orchestral debut at age 16 with the Hilton Head Symphony, performing Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. He has since appeared with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Lansing Symphony, Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, Terre Haute Symphony, Symphony Parnassus, and the Arad State Philharmonic in Romania, among others.

Born in Fremont, California, Wuu began his piano studies at age six. He studied with Yoshikazu Nagai at the San Francisco Conservatory Pre-College, with earlier instruction from Jed Galant and Rose Chen, and attended Valley Christian High School Conservatory of the Arts. A recipient of the Kovner Fellowship at The Juilliard School, he earned both his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees under the tutelage of Robert McDonald.

About Steinway & Sons label

The STEINWAY & SONS music label produces exceptional albums of solo piano music across all genres. The label — a division of STEINWAY & SONS, maker of the world’s finest pianos — is a perfect vessel for producing the finest quality recordings by some of the most talented pianists in the world.