Composer Deqing WEN
Born in a small village in Southern China, Wen studied composition in China, Switzerland and France, with Guo Zu-Rong, Shi Wan-Chun, Luo Zhong-Rong, Jean Balissat and Gilbert Amy. He was a visiting scholar at Columbia University in New York City while 2005 to 2006. At present, he is professor of composition and “analysis and performance of contemporary music”, also the Deputy Dean of Composition Department the artistic director of New Music Week and director of le Documentation Central de la Musique Contemporaine of Shanghai Conservatory of Music. The composer in residence of “Davos Festival – young artists in concert” 2009.
His music is a mixture of traditional Chinese music and complex western techniques. These are combined with his own creative inspiration.
Wen is deeply influenced by Chinese culture, particularly philosophy, painting and calligraphy. He adapts a new system to express his message in each piece. He also tries to use everyday objects such as cans, bottles, glasses, wind machines, tap water and paper.
His music has been performed around the world. He has been honored with concerts dedicated to his compositions in China, France, Denmark, Switzerland and the United States. Deqing Wen’s CD is published by Stradivarius (Italy) and Musiques Grammont Portrait of Switzerland. He has been awarded numerous prizes (among others, the Prix Cultura 1999 of the Foundation Kiwanis and the 2001 Composer Prize of the Foundation Leenaards of Switzerland). His commissions include Pro Helvetia, the Festival Archipel, the Association des Amis de la Musique , the Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik for Arditti String Quartet, Radio-Espace 2 for the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and the Taipei Chinese traditional orchestra of Taiwan. His opera «Le Pari» (The Wager) has been performed in the international Festival of Geneva (Switzerland), Shanghai, Beijing and Savonlinna (Finland).
He is a member of the Societé Suisse pour les Droits des Auteurs d’Oeuvres Musicales. www.deqingwen.com
YE Guohui
Composer, doctor of composition, professor and Head of the Composition Department of Shanghai Conservatory of Music. His musical language covers a characteristic perception of sounds and their attribute, reflecting the consideration and integration of various factors such as the nature of music itself, space effects, Chinese elements and modern music techniques.In 1994, his work <Peking Opera Impression> for mixed chorus won First Prize of “The 4th Composition Competition of Taiwan Provincial Orchestra”; the invention and approach of human voices and Chinese elements of this work can also be found in <Vegetable-Picking Tune•2009> (<Zhaicai Diao•2009>), another “New Folk Song” that evoked great repercussion. His 1996 work <New Century Overture> was awarded 1997 “Awards of Symphonic Works for the Return of Hong Kong”; the following <China Overture> won “The 10th Nationwide Musical Works [Symphonic Music] Awards”; and < The Prayers Come from the Jungles>, a 2001 work for voice and symphonic orchestra, won the 2nd prize of 2002 “CCA Taiwan International Composition Competition”; in these works were shown exquisite composition skills and intense music appeal. In 2007, his < Late Autumn for Orchestra > won the European Composer Award, the only Grand Prize for commissioned works of “young.euro.classic.festival” in German. As the winner of this Prize, he was especially commissioned the Festival hymn <Echo> for Young Euro Classic 2008, which was performed by all the participating orchestras from all over the world, and was highly praised as “fanfare from China” by European media. Ye has studied as a visiting scholar at Franz Liszt Academy of Music of Hungary; has been to Darmstad, and then finished his doctoral dissertation and also a monograph <György Kurtág’s Musical Composition and Concept>, In 2005, Ye has been invited to GRAME centre national de création musicale Lyon, France for a short term working visit on electronic music. And had a successful premiere of his electronic work <Six Moments of Sound> at the same time. <Sound Space II> for Erhu is a very representative work after the electronic music experiments. Other main works include <Early Spring> for female chorus, chamber music <Sunset in Yangguan> and <A cappella II>, Cello Concerto <To Mozart>, <Listening to Jiangnan> for Pipa (Chinese Lute) and grand Chinese orchestra, and symphonic chorus <Aurora of Dawn>, etc. He is also among the “One Hundred Excellent Young Artists of China Federation of Literature”, and won “Education Awards of Bao Steel” and 2nd prize (in cooperation) of “The 5th Higher Education National Teaching Achievements Awards”, etc.
Chen Musheng
Chen Musheng, Born in 1971 in the province of Zhejiang. Today he is considered as one of the most remarkable Chinese composers of his generation. Musheng studied the music theory and composition at the Shanghai Conservatory. He settled in Europe in October 2000, where he received his diploma in 2004 at the Conservatory of Geneva after studying with Eric Gaudibert, than he takes part in the master classes with Klaus Huber in Lugano. He receives numerous commissions from the Berliner Philharmoniker, Shanghai Grand Theatre, Commande d’Etat (France), Pro-Helvetia (Switzerland) etc. He has also worked with distinguished ensembles and orchestras such as the Arditti String Quartet, Berlin Philharmonisches Stringquintett, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, Hamburger Symphoniker, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra.
He has received many international prizes and awards, including the first grand prize of the Concours Dutilleux（France), Composition award of the Queen Elisabeth Competition(Belguim), first prize from the ICOMS (Italy), first prize from the Ciutat di Tarragona (Spain) and the Mitropoulos Competition (Greece). His some scores publish by the Alphonse Leduc Editions in Paris.
LU Pei As an active composer, Lu's music has been performed by Minnesota Orchestra, Chicago Grant Park Orchestra, Norfolk Music Consort, Oshkosh Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Chinese Orchestra, among others; his music has appeared at some very important venues in the U.S. In 2002, one of his latest commissioned pieces was performed in Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Project concert series in Washington D.C. at the 36th Annual Smithsonsian Folklife Festival and at the Silk Road Project concerts at the Chicago Orchestral Center. Lu Pei's compositions have been appeared at the Fullerton Hall of the Art Institute of Chicago, Merkin Concert Hall of New York City, Green Lake Music Festival of Wisconsin, Minnesota Symphony Hall, Chicago Orchestral Center, Chicago Grant Park Music Festival at Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, as well as in Taiwan National Music Hall, and in Canada, in Singapore, etc. Lu Pei's music has been recorded by The Traditional CrossingRoad Music of New York City and New Dynamic Records, --Influence, released by the Indiana University Southeast Publisher.
Lu Pei's are from Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Project, the institutions and ensembles such as the Chicago Institute of Arts, the Grant Park Orchestra of Chicago, Norfolk Music Consort of Virginia, the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh, the Oshkosh Symphony Orchestra of Wisconsin, Amelia Piano Trio, Western Kentucky University, also from the members of San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Chicago Symphony, as well as the institutions from Mainland-China, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong; Mr. Lu Pei's music has already appeared in many countries and areas such as in France, Belgium, Canada, Mainland China, The Netherlands, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, British, South Africa, Italy as well as in the U.S.
Lu Pei gained his doctorate from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor. Before came to the U.S. in 1991 for his further study in composition, Mr. Lu had taught at Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Dr. Lu used to be a faculty member of the University of Louisville, lecture professor of Nanking Normal University. He is now an honorable professor of the Guangxi Institute of Arts. He has been appointed a full professorship at Shanghai Conservatory of Music, China.