Yoyo Wu is a gifted high school musician from San Diego, California, recognized for her exceptional versatility on marimba, percussion, and piano. Featured in the San Diego Union-Tribune, Yoyo began her musical journey at the age of five with piano before expanding her artistry to include percussion and marimba, where she continues to captivate audiences with her expressive performances.
Yoyo is a 2026 YoungArts Winner with Distinction in Classical Music/Percussion, an honor awarded to a select group of young artists nationwide, and she performed at the National YoungArts Week in Miami. She was invited to the National Public Ratio (NPR) broadcast and performed with pianist Peter Dugan on From The Top, Show 475. She is a percussionist of the 2026 National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America (NYO-USA), and was a percussionist of NYO2 in 2025, during which they performed in the European debut at the Edinburgh International Festival under the baton of Rafael Payare.
Her recent awards also include winning first place in the high school division of the Great Plains International Marimba Competition as the youngest medalist in 2025; receiving the Best Contemporary Award at the 2025 La Jolla Emerging Artists Competition; and earning recognition as a scholarship winner from the San Diego Musical Merit Foundation. Yoyo has performed twice as a marimba soloist with the San Diego Youth Symphony (SDYS), upon winning first-place honors in concerto competitions, conducted by Sameer Patel in 2025 and Anthony Do-Hoon Kim in 2023.
Alongside her virtuosity on marimba and percussion, Yoyo won first place in the 2023 American Protégé Piano and Strings Competition, earning an invitation to perform piano at Carnegie Hall in December 2023. In 2024, she presented a full piano solo recital, featuring masterworks by Bach, Chopin, and Beethoven. She has received first place and other top honors in numerous competitions, including Music Teachers Association of California (MTAC) Sonata Competition, Concerto Competitions, the Chopin Festival, the Goodlin Scholarship Competition, and more.
Yoyo currently studies marimba and percussion with Svet Stoyanov and Andrew Watkins, and studies piano with Brendan Nguyen. Her former teachers include Christina Cheon and Carol Pelkner. She has also performed in master classes led by percussionists Fabian Ziegler and Matthew Lau, marimbist Naoko Takada, and renowned pianist Daniel Shapiro.
Beyond her performance achievements, Yoyo is deeply committed to sharing her love of music with her community. She often offers recitals in local communities, including at Solana Salons Concert Series, La Jolla Presbyterian Church, Hope United Methodist Church, and at various retirement communities throughout San Diego. Furthermore, since 2023, she has led the Carmel Valley Summer Symphony (CVSS), a student-run nonprofit organization that provides free and accessible music education and performance opportunities to students across San Diego during summer. With approximately 100 students enrolled annually, Yoyo and her team ensure the passion for music reaches far beyond her own performances.
News and Features
Local-Teen-Musicians-to-Make-Carnegie-Hall-Debut-已压缩https://www.sdfoundation.org/news-events/sdf-news/san-diego-youth-symphony-shaping-students-lives-through-music (August 12, 2023|By SDF)