Zihan Wu (b.2001) is a Chinese composer/pianist. Her music is often praised as full of imagination and refreshing. Heavily influenced by the sensitive and organic quality of the Orient aesthetic, the mysterious timbre and colorful sonority are always presented in her music. She is interested in exploring the interrelationships between different objects, time, and space, and weaving them into a unique and personal soundscape.
Her works have been performed by Divertimento Ensemble, Jack Quartet, Ensemble Court-Circuit, members of the New York Philharmonic and the Lviv Philharmonic, Eastman Musica Nova Ensemble, Eastman School Symphony Orchestra, and Eastman Ossia New Music Ensemble; and have won several prizes including first prize in 2019 Beijing International Composition Workshop and 2022 MaestrosVision Award International Composition Competition, Eastman Student Composition Award Winner, Louis Lane Prize, Wayne Brewster Barlow Prize, Bernard Roger Prize, and “Wanye” Cup Composition Competition for Contemporary Piano Works. She has also attended music festivals including International Workshop for Young Composers, Bowdoin International Music Festival, New Music On the Point, and Kansas University Asian Classical Music Initiative as a composition fellow.
She is currently based in New Haven CT, pursuing her Master of Music at Yale School of Music in composition. She completed her BM degree at Eastman with high distinction in composition and piano double major. She graduated from Music Middle School Affiliated to Shanghai Conservatory of Music in composition during her studies in China. Her main composition teachers include Katherine Balch, Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, Robert Morris, David Liptak, Matthew Barber, and Qing Shao. Her piano teachers include Melvin Chen, Douglas Humpherys, Vincent Lenti, and Xiangjun Yu. She also received guides from Mauro Lanza, Derek Bermel, Andreia Pinto Correia, Augusta Read Thomas, Kate Soper, Robert Mcdonald, Logan Skelton, Julian Martin, and among others for composition and piano. She is a member of the U.S. National Music Honor Society Pi Kappa Lambda.
Besides music, she enjoys ballet, hiking, traveling, and food 🙂
