(b Beijing, 8 July 1953). Chinese-American composer. Born to artistic parents, he began piano lessons at an early age. During the Cultural Revolution he was sent to work on a rural state farm. He enrolled in Beijing’s Central Conservatory of Music when it reopened in 1977 and completed the doctorate in 1993 at Columbia University, where his teachers included Chou Wen-chung, George Edwards and Mario Davidovsky. In 1989 he became the director of Music from China (New York). Among his honours are awards and fellowships from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, the Guggenheim and Koussevitzky foundations, the International Composition Competition (d’Avray, France, 1991) and the BBC Masterprize competition (1998). He is married to the composer Chen Yi.
Although many of Zhou’s early works are characterized by folk-like melodies and tonal harmonies, he was quick to explore new media and extended instrumental techniques after his arrival in the USA. His later style mediates Chinese musical traditions and free atonal composition. In addition to combining Chinese and Western instruments in some ensemble works, he has experimented with electronic techniques, and written new music for traditional Chinese ‘silk and bamboo’ ensemble. A number of chamber works show the influence of Buddhist thought.
(selective list)
|
Orch: Fisherman's Song, 1981, unpubd; Dong shi (ballet), 1983, unpubd; Sym. ‘Guang ling san’, 1983, unpubd; Da qu, perc, orch, 1991, unpubd; King Chu Doffs his Armour, pipa, orch, 1991; Peking Drum, pipa, orch, 1994; Poems from Tang, str qt, orch, 1995 [2 movts arr. as 2 Poems from Tang, str qt, orch, 1998] |
|
Vocal (all unpubd): Li sao (cant., Qu Yuan), female v, ens, 1988; Konghou fantasia (Li He), S, erhu, pipa, zheng, 1995; 2 Poems (The Book of Songs), SATB, 1997 |
|
Chbr and solo inst: Song of the Ch'in, str qt, 1982; Taiping Drum, vn, pf, 1983, unpubd; Valley Stream, di, guan, zheng, perc, 1983, unpubd; Green, dizi, pipa, 1984, unpubd; Song Beneath the Moon, 2 guan, yangqin, 1984, unpubd; Triptych of Bell-Drum Music, perc, 1984; Soul, pipa, str qt, 1987; Dhyana, fl, cl, vn, vc, pf, 1990; Ding, cl, perc, db, 1990; Su, fl, hp, 1990; Wu ji (pf, zheng, perc)/(pf, hp, perc)/(pf, tape), 1991; Tian ling, pipa, 14 insts, 1992; Wild Grass, vc, 1993; Five Maskers, brass qnt, 1994; The Ineffable (fl, vn, vc, pipa, zheng, perc)/(fl, zheng, perc), 1994; Metal-Stone-Silk-Bamboo, dizi, fl, vn, cl, vc, perc, 1997; Tales from the Cave, huqin, perc qt, 1998 |
|
Principal publisher: Presser |
CC1 (Chen Yi)
V.M. Lei: Wu Ji for Piano and Synthesized Sounds (diss., U. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 1990)
JOANNA C. LEE