Lu Wang

Composer and pianist Wang Lu was born in Xi’an, the ancient capital of China. Brought up in a musical family with strong Chinese opera and folk music traditions, she composes works that reflect a very natural identification with those influences, through the prism of contemporary instrumental techniques and new sonic possibilities.

Wang Lu’s works for a variety of Western and Chinese ensembles and orchestras have been performed internationally by ensembles including the Minnesota Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Ensemble Modern, Orchestre National de Lille, Holland Symfonia, Shanghai National Chinese Orchestra, Taipei Chinese Orchestra, Albany Symphony, Musiques Nouvelles (Belgium), Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne (Montreal), Phoenix Ensemble (Basel), Beijing New Music Ensemble, International Contemporary Ensemble, Argento, Momenta Quartet, Columbia University Jazz Band, Janus Trio, So Percussion, Ensemble Pamplemouse, and counter)induction, among others.

She has participated in numerous festivals, among them the Cresc Biennale in Frankfurt for new music (2013), Gaudeamus Music Week (2010 finalist), Tanglewood Music Center (2009), Cabrillo Music Festival (2010), Pacific Music Festival (2008), Takefu International Music Festival (2010), Centre Acanthes (2007), Bowling Green New Music Festival (2007), and Beijing Modern (2004).

She won the first prize at Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne’s Young Composers Forum in 2010 and shared the Tactus International Young Composers Orchestra Forum Award in 2008. She was selected for a Tremplin commission by IRCAM/Ensemble Intercontemporain in 2010, the International Composition Seminar with the Ensemble Modern in 2012, and has also received two ASCAP Morton Gould awards. Her recent orchestra work Scenes from the Bosco Sacro was selected for the 2014 New York Philharmonic Biennial New Music Readings.

She received her doctoral degree in composition at Columbia University in 2012, after graduating with highest honors from the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music in 2005. Her composition teachers have included Fred Lerdahl, Tristan Murail, George Lewis, and Chou-Wen Chung.