Biography
Wang Jie, composer
b. 1980
At the forefront of a new wave of Asian composers, 27-year-old Wang Jie was born and raised in Shanghai during the economic expansion which followed the Cultural Revolution. Her music is richly orchestrated, rhythmically vibrant, and always imbued with the sensibility of her heritage. The New York Times calls her work “introspective†and the Pittsburgh Tribune Review describes it as “scrupulously crafted composition that embraces both Chinese and Western modern classical expression.â€
Beginning with her first public performance as a pianist at age five, Wang Jie’s musical talent was cultivated by some of China’s most distinguished composers. In 2000, she moved to the United States to begin composition studies at the Manhattan School of Music, where she was the first composer in the history of the school to receive a full scholarship. She received her Master’s degree in composition there, graduating with honors in May 2007. Wang Jie has just begun the Artist Diploma program at the Curtis Institute of Music. She currently studies with Richard Danielpour.
Compositions by Wang Jie have been performed across the United States, Asia, and Europe. Her song cycle was featured in the opening ceremony of the 2006 Beijing Modern Music Festival. Her piano trio contributed the curtain raiser for the opening concert of MoMA’s Summer-Gardens 07 season with the New Juilliard Ensemble. As the recipient of the 2006 Northridge Composition Prize, her symphonic work was premiered in Los Angeles. She was a Schumann Fellow at the 2006 Aspen Music Festival, and was recently awarded the ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Award. She also holds honors from various organizations including BMI Foundation, Atlantic Center for the Arts, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, and Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, and is the beneficiary of a generous grant from the American Music Center. Her full-length opera, Nannan, was chosen by New York City Opera for the 2007 VOX: Showcasing American Composers Festival, making her the youngest composer ever to be given that honor.
More about Wang jie, please visit: wangjiemusic.com
More about Nannan, please visit: nannanopera.com
