March 5, 2025 • 13 mins
What if music education could transform not just your creativity, but your patience and perspective on life? Join us as we chat with William Pu, an accomplished violinist and passionate music educator, who shares his compelling journey from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music to performing with the Houston and Atlanta Symphony Orchestras, and ultimately founding the William Pu Music Academy in John's Creek. William reveals the profound impact that music education has on students, arguing that it offers unique advantages not found in traditional academic subjects.
Throughout our conversation, William tackles misconceptions about the value of music education and sheds light on its critical role in holistic development. He also introduces us to the Atlanta Festival Academy, a sister organization co-founded with his wife and friend Lin Wei, aimed at enriching the community and offering young musicians a platform to excel. Listen in to discover William's inspiring mission to nurture the next generation and how his academy has become a vital community cornerstone, fostering an enduring love for music in students from all walks of life.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Announcer (00:04):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, StaceyPoehler.
Stacey Poehler (00:17):
Hey everybody, I'm excited to be chatting with
William Pu.
He is the owner of the WilliamPu Music Academy and works with
the Atlanta Festival Academy.
Welcome, William.
William Pu (00:29):
Good morning, Stacey .
Stacey Poehler (00:30):
Good morning.
So why don't you start off bytelling us about your journey,
go all the way back to when youstarted playing the violin, and
then how that led to a career inmusic?
William Pu (00:41):
My journey starts quite a while ago.
I started playing violin when Iwas seven and accepted by the
Shanghai Conservatory of Musicat the age of 11, which is like
a starting of the middle school,end of the elementary school
age, so it's like a boardingschool.
I did all the training for nineyears in the conservatory.
(01:02):
I came to the USS for furtherstudy at the age of 20.
In 1990, I got my firstprofessional job at the Houston
Symphony Orchestra as anassistant concertmaster under
the maestro Christoph Eschenbach.
I played there for almost 13years, 13 seasons.
In 2002, I joined the AtlantaSymphony Orchestra as the
(01:26):
associate concertmaster and themaestro, robert Spano.
So I had 25 years ofprofessional career as a
violinist and I'm fortunateenough to work with two finest
American orchestras.
A student from China has thisopportunity to work for this
(01:49):
real, the best classicalorganization.
It's very fortunate so in manyoccasions I even had a fortune
to lead the orchestra on tourand on the recording sessions.
However, you know, teaching hasbeen my passion all along.
(02:09):
In 2014, I made a hugecommitment to open the music
academy in the John's Creek area.
Along with my wife, we decidedto dedicate our energy teaching
students instead of performingprofessionally.
The joy I felt every day fromworking with students is so
(02:31):
inspiring that I have neverlooked back.
Now, 11 years later, the MusicAcademy has become a vital part
of the community.
We are not just an academyteaching music lessons, but we
are a platform for our students,regardless of their social
economic background, and theyall can be nurtured and
(02:54):
supported to realize their fullpotential.
Stacey Poehler (02:58):
Are you still playing yourself or performing
with an orchestra?
William Pu (03:04):
I did for a few years after I left the symphony.
And as the school grew bigger,my studio gets bigger, my
students ask more attention ofme.
Then I feel like you know, inorder to hold a real high
standard, I'd rather not performpublicly.
So only few occasions withfriends.
Stacey Poehler (03:26):
Are there any myths or misconceptions out
there about music, education andanything that you can maybe
clear up for our listeners andto help them understand what you
do a little better?
William Pu (03:38):
Yeah, you know, music industry has been, you
know it's been exist for as longas people remember, you know
has a culture, has life.
So there's not many myths inthe industry.
However, there are quite a fewmisconceptions that I noticed
throughout my career as amusician, for example.
(04:00):
People often think about, youknow, you know why the value of
music is often underappreciated.
Right, and I guess it's becausebecause there's some
misconceptions in people's mindthat music is very difficult to
produce a certain tangible goodsthat can be measured by grades
(04:26):
or the dollar signs, and so mostpeople agree, although most
people agree that music and artsin broad sense are good for
humanity in general, when musiceducation is compared to math
and science, many think it'soptional activities.
(04:47):
But the fact has been proventhat the student who have
extensive music training canoften have very clear advantage
over non-musical students inmany areas, like creativity,
like patience, like you know.
Like creativity, like patience,like, you know, broad
perspectives about the thingsthey're doing, etc.
(05:17):
You know, it's been proven thatway.
And so all I'm saying here isyou know, music education,
especially at an early age, canhave an immeasurable
long-lasting impact on studentsin their you know, throughout
their entire life.
So that's why I choose to be amusic educator from being a
professional musician.
Stacey Poehler (05:34):
Can you tell us a little bit more about the
Atlanta Festival Academy andwhat you're trying to accomplish
with that?
William Pu (05:42):
Yes, Atlanta Festival Academy is the sister
organization of the William PuMusic Academy and founded by me,
my wife and my friend Lin Wei,who lives in Iceland.
Lin Wei is the mother of afamous jazz singer, Levi.
Announcer (05:59):
Many people know about Levi.
Yeah, but we worked togetherfor many years before Levi
became really famous.
William Pu (06:11):
So we started Atlanta Festival Academy in 2019
.
It's for only one mission is wewant to build a culture
platform that can nurturestudents, can support students,
can bring artists abroad toAtlanta and allow our local
(06:32):
students have a chance toperform with the top artists,
especially young, emergingartists.
We did, you know, ask, invitedat that time only 11-year-old
violinist, chloe Chua, fromSingapore, performed in Jones
Creek and Atlanta in 2019 andthat, you know, five years, six
(06:56):
years, look back.
It did such an impact onto ourstudents many my you know,
finest violinists these days inGeorgia the little girls, little
boys at that time, and inspiredby Chloe, so they started to
work hard and now, five years,six years later, I see these
(07:17):
students get blossomed and it'sall because they have a chance
to perform with world-classmusicians like Chloe.
So now and that was the originalmission and the platform but
now Atlanta Festival Academy hasgrown into a year-round program
.
We have three youth orchestrasworking weekly and give many
(07:44):
students training, and we alsogo to some local schools and
offer free lessons to some, youknow, challenged, financially
challenged family.
The kids can have a musiclesson.
So it's wonderful and, yeah, itkeeps growing.
Oh, now we have this year Forthe first time we're going to
(08:09):
host an international youngartist competition and it has
the grand prize of $10,000 cash,and more than that is it gets a
chance to perform with AtlantaFestival Academy Orchestra and
also be invited back for arecital.
If the student won, someone winthe competition.
(08:30):
So that's the first time, yeah.
Stacey Poehler (08:34):
That sounds like a good opportunity.
For sure, obviously, music isyour passion.
Are there other things that youand your family enjoy doing?
William Pu (08:43):
Besides working almost seven days a week for
teaching and the students, wefind time to get together with
our sons, who are living inSeattle and New York.
We are empty nesters now, andso every time we have a chance
we will try to have a familyvacation together.
(09:05):
So we like to travel, we liketo especially my wife like to
plan that kind of trip andduring the traveling time and we
love enjoy fine dining and lookfor, search for the local
delicacies, things like that.
Stacey Poehler (09:23):
Do you guys have anything planned at the moment?
William Pu (09:26):
We are going to meet in Japan in the beginning of
March.
Stacey Poehler (09:31):
Oh wow, that's right.
William Pu (09:32):
Coming soon.
Have you been there before?
Yes, actually, I've been toJapan many times.
When I was in Houston Symphony,we used to resident in a music
festival in Sapporo called thePacific Music Festival, founded
by Leonard Bernstein.
So Houston Symphony went theremany times Then I think the
(09:55):
other trips is because I loveJapan so much.
I love Japanese food.
So last time we were there, mywife and I was in October 2023.
Stacey Poehler (10:08):
Okay.
Have there been any hardshipsor struggles along the way in
getting the school off theground and Atlanta Festival
Academy.
William Pu (10:18):
I would say the challenge is always, as a
musician, you try to make achange.
You're always going to meetchallenges, and one of the
challenges I remember the mostis to start off Atlanta Festival
Academy in 2019.
We need, you know, invitingthose world-class musicians.
We need funding.
(10:39):
We perform in the Sandy SpringPerforming Arts Center, which
has cost a lot of money to rent,and we have no money.
We have zero to start from.
That time we were very nervous,you know, but we worked together
.
I learned how to talk to people.
I learned how to feelpassionate about you know what I
(11:01):
believe I stand by.
So finally, I was able toconvince.
You know, some good friendssupported us through the first
year and it turned out to be ahuge success.
From that event, I learned thatyou know it's the challenges in
the life actually is not a badthing, right is?
(11:23):
I see this as as if compare ifyourself as a sailing ship and
you try to do something new asthe sailing ship, you always
encounter the water resistance.
Right, it's the immobile shipand it doesn't have a resistance
from the water.
(11:43):
Anytime you try to do newthings, get a new degree and
even expanding your compassionfor more people.
It can encounter challenges,but those are good things.
Stacey Poehler (11:57):
Anything else that you haven't had a chance to
share that you want to makesure our listeners know.
William Pu (12:03):
Yeah, I think it is because, just for the nature of
arts, and we love to have morepeople be aware of the kind of
work we're doing for the youngmusicians and I really think
thank you and your magazine andhelp us to spreading the words
to the public and we haveupcoming this huge competition,
(12:26):
which is different from we haveso many competition now,
especially after covid.
There's many onlinecompetitions and they're just
doing, for some, you know, veryshort term and they want to make
a name.
Our competition is designed forsupporting emerging young
artists and we will not onlyjust give them the money, the
(12:50):
fund to go on, but also theopportunities to develop.
So we have a big plan forwhoever the winner of that
competition.
Stacey Poehler (13:00):
I'm going to definitely check that out.
If folks want to learn moreabout you, where should they go?
William Pu (13:07):
They can visit our website WPMusicAcademycom.
That's one website for WPMA.
Atlantafestivalacademyorg is myother website.
There are many informationabout what we have done in the
past and what we're doing now.
It's a lot of things we try toprovide to local students and
(13:31):
please take advantage of it well, thank you so much for joining
us today, william.
Stacey Poehler (13:36):
Thank you yeah it's great.
Announcer (13:38):
Thank you very much thank you for listening to the
good neighbor podcast milton andmore to nominate your favorite.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, StaceyPoehler.
Stacey Poehler (00:17):
Hey everybody, I'm excited to be chatting with
William Pu.
He is the owner of the WilliamPu Music Academy and works with
the Atlanta Festival Academy.
Welcome, William.
William Pu (00:29):
Good morning, Stacey .
Stacey Poehler (00:30):
Good morning.
So why don't you start off bytelling us about your journey,
go all the way back to when youstarted playing the violin, and
then how that led to a career inmusic?
William Pu (00:41):
My journey starts quite a while ago.
I started playing violin when Iwas seven and accepted by the
Shanghai Conservatory of Musicat the age of 11, which is like
a starting of the middle school,end of the elementary school
age, so it's like a boardingschool.
I did all the training for nineyears in the conservatory.
(01:02):
I came to the USS for furtherstudy at the age of 20.
In 1990, I got my firstprofessional job at the Houston
Symphony Orchestra as anassistant concertmaster under
the maestro Christoph Eschenbach.
I played there for almost 13years, 13 seasons.
In 2002, I joined the AtlantaSymphony Orchestra as the
(01:26):
associate concertmaster and themaestro, robert Spano.
So I had 25 years ofprofessional career as a
violinist and I'm fortunateenough to work with two finest
American orchestras.
A student from China has thisopportunity to work for this
(01:49):
real, the best classicalorganization.
It's very fortunate so in manyoccasions I even had a fortune
to lead the orchestra on tourand on the recording sessions.
However, you know, teaching hasbeen my passion all along.
(02:09):
In 2014, I made a hugecommitment to open the music
academy in the John's Creek area.
Along with my wife, we decidedto dedicate our energy teaching
students instead of performingprofessionally.
The joy I felt every day fromworking with students is so
(02:31):
inspiring that I have neverlooked back.
Now, 11 years later, the MusicAcademy has become a vital part
of the community.
We are not just an academyteaching music lessons, but we
are a platform for our students,regardless of their social
economic background, and theyall can be nurtured and
(02:54):
supported to realize their fullpotential.
Stacey Poehler (02:58):
Are you still playing yourself or performing
with an orchestra?
William Pu (03:04):
I did for a few years after I left the symphony.
And as the school grew bigger,my studio gets bigger, my
students ask more attention ofme.
Then I feel like you know, inorder to hold a real high
standard, I'd rather not performpublicly.
So only few occasions withfriends.
Stacey Poehler (03:26):
Are there any myths or misconceptions out
there about music, education andanything that you can maybe
clear up for our listeners andto help them understand what you
do a little better?
William Pu (03:38):
Yeah, you know, music industry has been, you
know it's been exist for as longas people remember, you know
has a culture, has life.
So there's not many myths inthe industry.
However, there are quite a fewmisconceptions that I noticed
throughout my career as amusician, for example.
(04:00):
People often think about, youknow, you know why the value of
music is often underappreciated.
Right, and I guess it's becausebecause there's some
misconceptions in people's mindthat music is very difficult to
produce a certain tangible goodsthat can be measured by grades
(04:26):
or the dollar signs, and so mostpeople agree, although most
people agree that music and artsin broad sense are good for
humanity in general, when musiceducation is compared to math
and science, many think it'soptional activities.
(04:47):
But the fact has been proventhat the student who have
extensive music training canoften have very clear advantage
over non-musical students inmany areas, like creativity,
like patience, like you know.
Like creativity, like patience,like, you know, broad
perspectives about the thingsthey're doing, etc.
(05:17):
You know, it's been proven thatway.
And so all I'm saying here isyou know, music education,
especially at an early age, canhave an immeasurable
long-lasting impact on studentsin their you know, throughout
their entire life.
So that's why I choose to be amusic educator from being a
professional musician.
Stacey Poehler (05:34):
Can you tell us a little bit more about the
Atlanta Festival Academy andwhat you're trying to accomplish
with that?
William Pu (05:42):
Yes, Atlanta Festival Academy is the sister
organization of the William PuMusic Academy and founded by me,
my wife and my friend Lin Wei,who lives in Iceland.
Lin Wei is the mother of afamous jazz singer, Levi.
Announcer (05:59):
Many people know about Levi.
Yeah, but we worked togetherfor many years before Levi
became really famous.
William Pu (06:11):
So we started Atlanta Festival Academy in 2019
.
It's for only one mission is wewant to build a culture
platform that can nurturestudents, can support students,
can bring artists abroad toAtlanta and allow our local
(06:32):
students have a chance toperform with the top artists,
especially young, emergingartists.
We did, you know, ask, invitedat that time only 11-year-old
violinist, chloe Chua, fromSingapore, performed in Jones
Creek and Atlanta in 2019 andthat, you know, five years, six
(06:56):
years, look back.
It did such an impact onto ourstudents many my you know,
finest violinists these days inGeorgia the little girls, little
boys at that time, and inspiredby Chloe, so they started to
work hard and now, five years,six years later, I see these
(07:17):
students get blossomed and it'sall because they have a chance
to perform with world-classmusicians like Chloe.
So now and that was the originalmission and the platform but
now Atlanta Festival Academy hasgrown into a year-round program
.
We have three youth orchestrasworking weekly and give many
(07:44):
students training, and we alsogo to some local schools and
offer free lessons to some, youknow, challenged, financially
challenged family.
The kids can have a musiclesson.
So it's wonderful and, yeah, itkeeps growing.
Oh, now we have this year Forthe first time we're going to
(08:09):
host an international youngartist competition and it has
the grand prize of $10,000 cash,and more than that is it gets a
chance to perform with AtlantaFestival Academy Orchestra and
also be invited back for arecital.
If the student won, someone winthe competition.
(08:30):
So that's the first time, yeah.
Stacey Poehler (08:34):
That sounds like a good opportunity.
For sure, obviously, music isyour passion.
Are there other things that youand your family enjoy doing?
William Pu (08:43):
Besides working almost seven days a week for
teaching and the students, wefind time to get together with
our sons, who are living inSeattle and New York.
We are empty nesters now, andso every time we have a chance
we will try to have a familyvacation together.
(09:05):
So we like to travel, we liketo especially my wife like to
plan that kind of trip andduring the traveling time and we
love enjoy fine dining and lookfor, search for the local
delicacies, things like that.
Stacey Poehler (09:23):
Do you guys have anything planned at the moment?
William Pu (09:26):
We are going to meet in Japan in the beginning of
March.
Stacey Poehler (09:31):
Oh wow, that's right.
William Pu (09:32):
Coming soon.
Have you been there before?
Yes, actually, I've been toJapan many times.
When I was in Houston Symphony,we used to resident in a music
festival in Sapporo called thePacific Music Festival, founded
by Leonard Bernstein.
So Houston Symphony went theremany times Then I think the
(09:55):
other trips is because I loveJapan so much.
I love Japanese food.
So last time we were there, mywife and I was in October 2023.
Stacey Poehler (10:08):
Okay.
Have there been any hardshipsor struggles along the way in
getting the school off theground and Atlanta Festival
Academy.
William Pu (10:18):
I would say the challenge is always, as a
musician, you try to make achange.
You're always going to meetchallenges, and one of the
challenges I remember the mostis to start off Atlanta Festival
Academy in 2019.
We need, you know, invitingthose world-class musicians.
We need funding.
(10:39):
We perform in the Sandy SpringPerforming Arts Center, which
has cost a lot of money to rent,and we have no money.
We have zero to start from.
That time we were very nervous,you know, but we worked together
.
I learned how to talk to people.
I learned how to feelpassionate about you know what I
(11:01):
believe I stand by.
So finally, I was able toconvince.
You know, some good friendssupported us through the first
year and it turned out to be ahuge success.
From that event, I learned thatyou know it's the challenges in
the life actually is not a badthing, right is?
(11:23):
I see this as as if compare ifyourself as a sailing ship and
you try to do something new asthe sailing ship, you always
encounter the water resistance.
Right, it's the immobile shipand it doesn't have a resistance
from the water.
(11:43):
Anytime you try to do newthings, get a new degree and
even expanding your compassionfor more people.
It can encounter challenges,but those are good things.
Stacey Poehler (11:57):
Anything else that you haven't had a chance to
share that you want to makesure our listeners know.
William Pu (12:03):
Yeah, I think it is because, just for the nature of
arts, and we love to have morepeople be aware of the kind of
work we're doing for the youngmusicians and I really think
thank you and your magazine andhelp us to spreading the words
to the public and we haveupcoming this huge competition,
(12:26):
which is different from we haveso many competition now,
especially after covid.
There's many onlinecompetitions and they're just
doing, for some, you know, veryshort term and they want to make
a name.
Our competition is designed forsupporting emerging young
artists and we will not onlyjust give them the money, the
(12:50):
fund to go on, but also theopportunities to develop.
So we have a big plan forwhoever the winner of that
competition.
Stacey Poehler (13:00):
I'm going to definitely check that out.
If folks want to learn moreabout you, where should they go?
William Pu (13:07):
They can visit our website WPMusicAcademycom.
That's one website for WPMA.
Atlantafestivalacademyorg is myother website.
There are many informationabout what we have done in the
past and what we're doing now.
It's a lot of things we try toprovide to local students and
(13:31):
please take advantage of it well, thank you so much for joining
us today, william.
Stacey Poehler (13:36):
Thank you yeah it's great.
Announcer (13:38):
Thank you very much thank you for listening to the
good neighbor podcast milton andmore to nominate your favorite.
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