Wang Jie (; born 1980) is a Chinese-born American composer. Wang Jie was born and raised in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

. She was a known piano prodigy at age five. A

scholarship A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholarsh ...

from the

Manhattan School of Music The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private music conservatory in New York City. The school offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition, as well as a bachelor's in mu ...

brought her to the US, in 2000, where she studied composition with

Nils Vigeland Nils Vigeland (born 1950 in Buffalo, New York) is an American composer and pianist. Career Vigeland made his professional debut as a pianist in 1969 with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. He later studied composition with Lukas Foss at Harvard ...

and Richard Danielpour. Her work has been performed across the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an ...

, and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

. She has received honors and awards from

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

, the BMI Foundation, the

American Music Center New Music USA is a new music organization formed by the merging of the American Music Center with Meet The Composer on November 8, 2011. The new organization retains the granting programs of the two former organizations as well as two media progra ...

Opera America __NOTOC__ Opera America, styled OPERA America, is a New York-based service organization promoting the creation, presentation, and enjoyment of opera in the United States. Almost all professional opera companies and some semi-professional companies i ...

, and the

, among others.

Career

While she was still a student, her tragic opera ''Nannan'' was showcased by the New York City Opera's VOX, Contemporary Opera Lab. ''Flown'', a

chamber opera Chamber opera is a designation for operas written to be performed with a chamber ensemble rather than a full orchestra. Early 20th-century operas of this type include Paul Hindemith's '' Cardillac'' (1926). Earlier small-scale operas such as Pergol ...

meditation on two lovers who must separate, was produced by the Music Theatre Group, and the

Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massac ...

-inspired

song cycle A song cycle (german: Liederkreis or Liederzyklus) is a group, or cycle, of individually complete songs designed to be performed in a sequence as a unit.Susan Youens, ''Grove online'' The songs are either for solo voice or an ensemble, or rarel ...

''I Died for Beauty'' was featured at the opening ceremony of the

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

Modern Music Festival. Her

piano trio A piano trio is a group of piano and two other instruments, usually a violin and a cello, or a piece of music written for such a group. It is one of the most common forms found in classical chamber music. The term can also refer to a group of musi ...

, ''Shadow'', which dramatizes the inner life of an autistic child, was performed by the New Juilliard Ensemble as curtain-raiser for the Museum of Modern Art's Summergarden concert series. As the first composer awarded the Milton Rock Fellowship prize, she was commissioned to compose the environmentally aware

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form ...

''Five Phases of Spring'' for Philadelphia's

The Rock School for Dance Education The Rock School for Dance Education is a classical ballet school located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, along the city's Avenue of the Arts. The school offers dance training for students age three and older, with pre-professional programs for stu ...

, and her ''Death of Socrates'' won the Northridge Composition Prize. Her ''Symphony No. 1 (Awakening)'' was featured by the

Minnesota Orchestra The Minnesota Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded originally as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903, the Minnesota Orchestra plays most of its concerts at Minneapolis's Orchestra Hall. History Emi ...

at the 2010 Future Classics concert, and a new work is in process for the 45th anniversary celebration of Continuum at

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

John Corigliano John Paul Corigliano Jr. (born February 16, 1938) is an American composer of contemporary classical music. His scores, now numbering over one hundred, have won him the Pulitzer Prize, five Grammy Awards, Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, ...

described ''Symphony No. 1 (Awakening)'' as 'gorgeously written – she knows how to take a few notes and spin them into a large form – a rare trait in today's composers. Robert Beaser described her work as of 'elegance and elemental clarity', the

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review The ''Pittsburgh Tribune-Review'', also known as "the Trib," is the second largest daily newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States. Although it transitioned to an all-digital format on December 1, 2016, it rema ...

characterizing it as 'scrupulously crafted composition that embraces both Chinese and Western modern classical expression.' ''From the Other Sky'', awarded the American Composers Orchestra's Underwood Commission, a 'charming multimedia-comic-opera-meets-song-cycle in four scenes'

premiere A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition. A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its f ...

d at Carnegie Hall 15 October 2010 to positive notices such as that of Steve Smith of ''The New York Times, who noted the work's 'vibrant, polished' quality. In February 2012 Wang Jie was awarded the Charles Ives Scholarship of the

American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headq ...

. In July 2012 she was awarded the sixth annual Elaine Lebenhorn award of the

Detroit Symphony Orchestra The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) is an American orchestra based in Detroit, Michigan. Its primary performance venue is Orchestra Hall at the Max M. Fisher Music Center in Detroit's Midtown neighborhood. Jader Bignamini is the current musi ...

Selected works

For orchestra

*''Deer Cry'' (2004) *''Three Miniature Pieces for Orchestra'' (2004) *''Death of Socrates'' (2006) *''The Book of Songs – Swamp's Shore'' (2007) *''Fanfare for Orchestra'' (2007) *''Requiem'' (2007) *''Symphony No. 1'' (2008) *''Five Faces of Joy'' (2009)

Operas

*''Nannan'' (2007) *''From The Land Fallen'' (2015)

Personal life

In 2016 Wang married ''

Performance Today ''Performance Today'' is a Peabody Award-winning classical music radio program, first aired in 1987 and hosted since 2000 by Fred Child. It is the most listened-to daily classical music radio program in the United States, with 1.2 million listen ...

'' radio host

Fred Child Fred Child (born March 30, 1963) is an American radio host. Since 2000, he has been the host of the classical music radio program ''Performance Today'' on American Public Media. He is also the announcer and commentator for the PBS program ''Live ...

References

External links

*
MySpace page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wang, Jie 1980 births 21st-century American composers 21st-century classical composers American women classical composers American classical composers Chinese women classical composers Chinese classical composers Living people Manhattan School of Music alumni Musicians from Shanghai 21st-century American women musicians 21st-century women composers