Known for a wide-ranging symphonic and operatic repertoire, a particular commitment to overlooked works, and interpretations combining structural precision with dramatic intensity, Taiwanese conductor Yao-Yu Wu first came to international attention at the age of twenty-four. In 2013, he won the Grand Prize, Orchestra Prize, and Audience Prize at the Besançon International Competition for Young Conductors. A decade later, he received Second Prize, the Audience Prize, and the Award for Best Interpretation of the Commissioned Work at the 2023 Hong Kong International Conducting Competition. In 2013, he was also named a Musician of the Year by Taiwan's PAR Performing Arts Magazine.

Wu's guest conducting engagements have included the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine, Orchestre National de Lorraine, Saint Petersburg Symphony Orchestra, and Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, with whom he also toured southern France. In Asia, he maintains a longstanding relationship with the Taiwan Philharmonic (National Symphony Orchestra), and has conducted the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, Taipei Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, and Macao Orchestra. In 2023, he was invited to appear at Japan's Rose City Fukuyama International Music Festival. Wu has also been called upon at short notice for major engagements, replacing Alexander Liebreich with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, and Gábor Venzago and Martin Sieghart with the Taiwan Philharmonic.

Artists with whom Wu has collaborated include Lang Lang, Rudolf Buchbinder, Cho-Liang Lin, Daniel Müller-Schott, Camille Thomas, Nemanja Radulović, Ilya Gringolts, Kit Armstrong, Alexei Volodin, Makoto Ozone, Tzimon Barto, and Nadine Sierra. During the 2026/27 season, he will collaborate for the first time with Stephen Hough, Kerson Leong, Paul Huang, and Patrick Messina.

Alongside his guest conducting activities, artistic planning and the long-term development of orchestras have become an increasingly important part of Wu's work. As Resident Conductor of the Kaohsiung Symphony Orchestra, he is closely involved in the orchestra's long-term artistic planning and major productions, broadening its repertoire by placing central works alongside neglected masterworks and contemporary voices. He has led a number of Taiwanese and Asian premieres with the orchestra, including the Asian premiere of Wynton Marsalis' Swing Symphony in 2025 and the Taiwanese concert premiere of Puccini's La Rondine in 2026.

To mark the bicentenary of Beethoven's death in 2027, Wu and the Kaohsiung Symphony Orchestra are undertaking the first complete cycle of Beethoven's symphonies and concertos in the orchestra's history.

Opera forms a central part of Wu's artistic work. Recent productions include Puccini's Tosca (2024), with a cast including Stephen Costello, Aleksey Bogdanov, and Laura Wilde; Verdi's Rigoletto (2025), with Alfredo Daza in the title role; Puccini's La Bohème (2026); and the Taiwanese concert premiere of Puccini's La Rondine (2026), led by Sofia Fomina and Dmytro Popov. His operatic repertoire also includes Bellini's La Sonnambula, Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel, and touring performances of Puccini's Tosca with the Taiwan Philharmonic.

Beyond his symphonic and operatic work, Wu has conducted major crossover productions and is an approved conductor for the Warner Bros. Harry Potter Film Concert Series. He studied at the Taipei National University of the Arts before pursuing advanced studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. His discography includes Silvergrass, featuring music by Shih-Hui Chen and recorded with pipa virtuoso Wu Man and cellist Wen-Sinn Yang for New World Records.