Wang Jie (; born 1980) is a Chinese-born American

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

. Wang Jie was born and raised in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

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

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

from the

Manhattan School of Music The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private music conservatory A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music a ...

brought her to the US in 2000, where she studied

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography * Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

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 Richard Danielpour (born January 28, 1956) is an American composer and academic, currently affiliated with the Curtis Institute of Music and the University of California, Los Angeles. Early life Danielpour was born in New York City of Persian Jew ...

. Her work has been performed across the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

, and

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. 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, broadc ...

, the

BMI Foundation The BMI Foundation, Inc. is a non-profit organization founded in 1985 by executives of Broadcast Music Incorporated for the purpose of "encouraging the creation, performance and study of music through awards, scholarships, internships, grants, and ...

, 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 progr ...

Opera America __NOTOC__ Opera America (stylized as 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 company, opera companies and some semi-pr ...

, 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 music, chamber ensemble rather than a full orchestra. Early 20th-century operas of this type include Paul Hindemith's ''Cardillac'' (1926). Earlier small-scale operas ...

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 () is a group, or cycle (music), cycle, of individually complete Art song, songs designed to be performed in sequence, as a unit.Susan Youens, ''Grove online'' The songs are either for solo voice or an ensemble, or rarely a combinat ...

''I Died for Beauty'' was featured at the

opening ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly constructed location or the start of an event.

of the

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

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 European classical music, classical chamber music. The term can also ...

, ''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 of ...

''Five Phases of Spring'' for Philadelphia's The Rock School for Dance Education, 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 Th ...

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 ...

John Corigliano John Paul Corigliano (born February 16, 1938) is an American composer of contemporary classical music. With over 100 compositions, he has won accolades including a Pulitzer Prize, five Grammy Awards, Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, and a ...

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 Robert Beaser (born May 29, 1954, Boston, Massachusetts) is an American composer. Biography Beaser was brought up in a non-musical family. His father was a physician and mother was a chemist. He grew up in Newton, Massachusetts, where he disti ...

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 the Greater Pittsburgh metropolitan area of Western Pennsylvania. It transitioned to an all-digital format on December 1, 2016, but 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 premiere, also spelled première, (from , ) is the debut (first public presentation) of a work, i.e. play, film, dance, musical composition, or even a performer in that work. History Raymond F. Betts attributes the introduction of the ...

d at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...

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 of the United States, music, and Visual art of the United States, art. Its fixed number ...

. 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, Detroit, Michigan. Its primary performance venue is Orchestra Hall (Detroit, Michigan), Orchestra Hall at the Max M. Fisher Music Center in Detroit's Midtown, Detroit, ...

Personal life

In 2016 Wang married ''

Performance Today ''Performance Today'' is a 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 listeners on 237 stations. ...

'' 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 ...

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)

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 composers