Wu Man

Wu Man

Wu Man was cited by the Los Angeles Times as “the artist most responsible for bringing the pipa to the Western World.” Born in Hangzhou, China, Wu Man studied at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. She currently lives in Boston where she was selected as a Bunting Fellow at the Radclcliffe Institute of Harvard University. She is the first artist from China to have performed at the White House with Yo Yo Ma, with whom she performs in the Silk Road Project. In China, Wu Man received first prize in the National Music Performance Competition and participated in premieres of many works by a new generation of Chinese composers. Since moving to the U.S., she has continued to champion new works and has inspired new pipa literature from composers Terry Riley, Philip Glass, Lou Harrison, Tan Dun, Bright Sheng, Chen Yi, and Zhou Long. Wu Man has collaborated with renowned artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Yuri Bashmet, Chao-liang Lin, the Kronos Quartet, Dennis Russell Davies, Christoph Eschenbach, Gunther Herbig, Esa-Pekka Salonen, the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Moscow Soloists, Ensemble Modern, Nieuw Ensemble, Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, the Austrian ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra, the NDR and RSO Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group. She can be heard on Wu Man-Chinese Pipa and Wu Man & Ensemble (Nimbus); Ghost Opera and Early Music with Kronos Quartet (Nonesuch); Airport Music for Bang On A Can (Point Music); and Silk Road Journeys: When Strangers Meet (Sony).