Wang Jie (composer) facts for kids
Wang Jie (born in 1980) is a talented composer from China who now lives in America. She writes many different kinds of music.
Wang Jie grew up in Shanghai, China. She was amazing at playing the piano from a very young age, starting at just five years old. In 2000, she received a special scholarship to study at the Manhattan School of Music in the US. There, she learned how to write music, which is called composition. Her teachers were Nils Vigeland and Richard Danielpour.
Wang Jie's music has been played all over the world. You can hear her pieces in the United States, Asia, and Europe. She has also won many important awards for her work. These include honors from groups like ASCAP, the BMI Foundation, and Opera America.
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Wang Jie's Music Career
Even while she was still a student, Wang Jie's music was noticed. Her opera called Nannan was shown by the New York City Opera. An opera is a play where the story is told mostly through singing.
Famous Works and Performances
Wang Jie wrote a chamber opera called Flown. This type of opera is for a smaller group of musicians and singers. It was about two people who had to say goodbye. Another piece, I Died for Beauty, was a song cycle inspired by poems. A song cycle is a group of songs that are connected. This work was featured at the opening of the Beijing Modern Music Festival.
Her piano trio called Shadow was also very special. A piano trio is music for three instruments, usually a piano, violin, and cello. This piece showed the feelings of a child with autism. It was performed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
Wang Jie was the first composer to win the Milton Rock Fellowship prize. This award led her to create a ballet called Five Phases of Spring. This ballet was about the environment and was performed by The Rock School for Dance Education in Philadelphia. Her piece Death of Socrates also won a major award.
Symphonies and Other Pieces
Her Symphony No. 1 (Awakening) was played by the Minnesota Orchestra in 2010. A symphony is a long piece of music for a large orchestra. Another new piece was created for a special celebration at Lincoln Center.
Famous composers have praised Wang Jie's work. John Corigliano said her symphony was "gorgeously written." Robert Beaser described her music as having "elegance and elemental clarity." The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review newspaper said her music mixes both Chinese and Western classical styles.
Her work From the Other Sky won the American Composers Orchestra's Underwood Commission. This piece was a fun mix of opera and song cycle. It was first performed at Carnegie Hall in October 2010. Critics loved it, with Steve Smith from The New York Times calling it "vibrant" and "polished."
In February 2012, Wang Jie received the Charles Ives Scholarship. This is a very important award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In July 2012, she also won the Elaine Lebenhorn award from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
Personal Life
In 2016, Wang Jie married Fred Child. He is a radio host for a show called Performance Today.
Selected Works
Here are some of the musical pieces Wang Jie has created:
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)
See also
In Spanish: Wang Jie (compositora) para niños
