Wu began taking voice lessons while studying at a vocational school; in 1963, he moved to Japan and graduated from the Toho
Gakuen School of Music in Chōfu (Greater Tokyo) four years later. He completed his studies in Berlin, where he got a contract
at the Deutsche Oper in 1970. From 1973 to 1979, he sang lead roles there, his most notable success being Canio. Wu was a
pioneer at a time when there were no Asian opera singers anywhere around in Europe or the US.
After returning to Taiwan and founding an opera troupe there in 1982, he went for the rest of his career to Tokyo, where he
sang primarily for the Nikikai Opera Theater. In 1983, he sang the title role in the surprisingly belated Japanese premiere of
Siegfried at the Nikikai, and in 1984, he scored a personal triumph there as Radames.
He later taught voice in both Taiwan and Japan, and in concert, he remained active well almost up to his death. Unusual
for a Taiwanese, he also sang in Beijing (1992).
William Wu was his Western stage name; his actual name was Wu Wenxiu. Further roles that he sang included Italienischer
Sänger, Steuermann or Grigorij.
Reference 1; reference 2: the Youtube channel of Wu's tenor student Yun-Seng Giang; reference
3: Kutsch & Riemens, reference 4, reference 5: The Epoch Times, 23 April
2009
