Wu Man
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Wu Man (Chinese: 吴蛮; pinyin: Wú Mán; born 1963 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang) is a Chinese pipa virtuoso and composer. Described as "the artist most responsible for bring the pipa to the Western World" by the Los Angeles Times, US-based, Chinese-born musician Wu Man has carved out a career creating and fostering projects that give this ancient Chinese instrument a new role in today’s music world. A Grammy Award-nominated artist, her adventurous musical spirit has also led to her becoming a respected authority on the history and preservation of Chinese musical traditions, reflected in her recorded and live performances and multi-cultural collaborations.
Having been brought up in the Pudong School of pipa playing, one of the most prestigious classical styles of Imperial China, Wu Man is known for her outstanding exponent of the traditional repertoire but also recognized as a leading interpreter of contemporary compositions, as well as her work in jazz and cross-cultural music. Today’s most prominent composers including Terry Riley, Philip Glass, the late Lou Harrison, Bright Sheng, Chen Yi, Zhou Long, Gabriela Lena Frank, Bun-Ching Lam, Evan Ziporyn, and many others have composed new works for her.
Wu studied at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, where her instructors included Lin Shicheng, Kuang Yuzhong, Chen Zemin, and Liu Dehai. She became the first recipient of a master's degree in pipa and won the first prize in the 1989 National Music Performance Competition.
Although educated in China, Wu came to the United States in 1990 at the age of 25. She lived in Boston for many years and now lives in San Diego, California with her husband and son.
Wu has performed and recorded with the Kronos Quartet, Henry Threadgill, Liu Sola, Martin Simpson, and Yo-Yo Ma's The Silk Road Ensemble, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Philip Glass Ensemble, Wu Man & Friend series, and many other projects. In 1999, she became the first Chinese musician to play at the White House.[1] She played there, together with Yo-Yo Ma, in honor of Zhu Rongji, the premier of China. Also In 1999, Wu was chosen by Ma to receive the City of Toronto Glenn Gould Protégé Prize in music and communication. The award consisted of a bronze statue of famous Canadian pianist Gould himself. In 1998 she was a first Chinese traditional performing artist selected as a Bunting Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study at Harvard University. In 2008 she was awarded a [United States Artists] Fellowship.
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[edit] Discography
- 1993 - Wu Man: <Chinese Music for the Pipa> (Nimbus)
- 1995 - Zhou Long: <Nature and Spirit> (Composers Recordings, Inc.)
- 1996 - Wu Man: <Chinese Traditional & Contemporary Music> (Nimbus)
- 2003 - Wu Man: <Pipa from a Distance> (Naxos)
- 2003 - <Posture of Reality>(Asian Improv)
- 2003 - Bright Sheng: <Silent Temple> (Bis)
- 2004 - Lou Harrison: <Pipa concerto with String Orchestra > (Mode)
- 2005 - <Wu Man and Friends> (Traditional Crossroads)
- 2008 - Tan Dun: <Pipa Concerto> (Onyx Classics UK)
- 2010 - Wu Man: <Immeasurable Light> (Traditional Crossroads)
[edit] With Philip Glass
- 2005 - <Orion> (Orange Mountain)
[edit] With Kronos Quartet
- 1997 - <Early Music (Lachrymae Antiquae)> (Nonesuch)
- 1997 - Tan Dun: <Ghost Opera> (Nonesuch)
- 2008 - Terry Riley: <The Cusp of Magic> (Nonesuch)
[edit] With Kronos Quartet and Asha Bhosle
- 2005 - <You've Stolen My Heart: Songs from R. D. Burman's Bollywood >(Nonesuch)
[edit] With Martin Simpson
- 1997 - <Music for the Motherless Child> (Water Lily Acoustics)
[edit] With Liu Sola
- 1994 - <Blues in the East> (Axiom)
- 1997 - <China Collage> (Avant Japan)
- 2001 - <Spring Snowfall> (Also Productions)
[edit] With The Silk Road Ensemble
- 2002 - <Silk Road Journeys: When Strangers Meet> (enhanced SACD) (Sony)
- 2005 - <Silk Road Journeys: Beyond the Horizon> (Sony)
- 2007 - <New Impossibilities> (Sony Classics)
- 2009 - <Off the Map> (World Village & In a Circle Records)
[edit] With Henry Threadgill
- 1994 - <Carry the Day> (Sony)
[edit] Compilations
- 1994 - <World Music Sampler, Volume 2> (Nimbus)
- 1997 - <China: Spirit and Wisdom>(Ellipsis Arts China)
- 1998 - <China: Sounds of Our Stories> (Ellipsis Arts China)
- 1998 - <China - Time To Listen: The Best of China> (3-CD set) (Ellipsis)
- 2008 - <Traditions and Transformations: Sounds of Silk Road Chicago> (CSO Resound)
[edit] External links
[edit] Interviews
- [4] Wu Man Profiled on PBS NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
- Wu Man interview
