biography

Still in her 20's, Xi Wang (Xi-family name, pronounced "shee", Wang-first name, pronounced "Wong") is a promising young composer known for her energy and drive. Her music has been performed in the United States and abroad, such as the Merkin Hall (New York City, NY), the Harris Concerto Hall (Aspen, CO), the Orchestra Hall (Minneapolis, MN), the Bailey Hall (Ithaca, NY), the Barns Hall (Ithaca, NY), the Werner Recital Hall (Cincinnati, OH), the Olin Hall (Annandale-on-Hudson, NY), the Ouji Hall (Tokyo, Japan), the Great Concert Hall (Dartington, United Kingdom), the Rachmaninov Hall (Moscow, Russia), and the Zhongzheng Hall (Taipei, Taiwan). Her music has been played by the Minnesota Orchestra under Osmo Vänskä, the California State University Northridge Symphony Orchestra under John Roscigno, the Cornell Wind Ensemble under Cynthia Johnston Turner, the Cornell Festival Chamber Orchestra under Chris Younghoon Kim, the Proteus Ensemble under Sydney Hodkinson, Tippet String Quartet, Mark Pekarsky's percussion ensemble, DoublePlay, and Music Nova. As a conductor, Xi Wang has premiered several of her own compositions with the Ensemble X, the Music from China and the Cornell Contemporary Chamber Player.

Being a three-time winner (2002, 2004, 2007) of the ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) Morton Gould Young Composer Award, Xi Wang's music has been spotlighted on Minnesota Public Radio, Aspen Public Radio and Radio-China. Her music has been heard in music conferences and festivals such as: the Pacific International Music Festival (Japan), the Dartington International Music Festival (United Kingdom), the Aspen International Music Festival (Aspen, CO), the Oregon Bach Festival (Eugene, OR), the Music 04 (Cincinnati, OH), the Composers Conference at Wellesley College (Boston, MA), and the Chamber Music Conference and Composers' Forum of the East (Bennington, VT). Her orchestra piece Above Light was selected by the Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute in 2007. The same piece also received the 5th Northridge Composition Prize. Her percussion duet ... Between ... won the first prize of the Fourth International Jurgenson Competition for Young Composers. The winning score will be published by the Peter Ivanovich Jurgenson Publishing House in the internet musical series "Music of the Third Millennium" in 2008. Xi Wang received the "Crumb Commission" in honor of the American composer George Crumb on his 75th birthday at the Oregon Bach Festival Composers Symposium. She was the sole recipient of the 2006-2007 Robbins Family Prize in Music Composition for her exceptional merit and promise as a composer. Xi Wang was also one of the eight young composers featured in the project, New Voices from China, at the Bard College. Her other awards include: the Tsang-Houei Hsu International Music Composition Award; first prize in the "Music from China" International Composition Competition; first prize of the "Ensemble X" competition, the University of Missouri-Kansas City Chamber Music Composition Competition Award and the Outstanding Student Studying Abroad Award from the Chinese Government.

Xi Wang's fellowship credits include: Composers Conference and Chamber Music Center at Wellesley College, Massachusetts; Pacific International Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan; the Susan and Ford Schumann Fellowship at Aspen International Music Festival; Norfolk Chamber Music Festival; California Summer Music; Music 04, Cincinnati; Oregon Bach Music Festival; the Chamber Music Conference and Composers' Forum of the East; and a bursary award from the Hinrichsen Foundation for attending the Dartington International Summer School in England.

Xi Wang's music education started at the young age of 5, when she received her first piano lesson. She received her bachelor's degree in music composition from Shanghai Conservatory of Music in 2001. In the same year, upon receiving a full scholarship from University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC), she came to the United States and studied with Dr. Chen Yi, Dr. Zhou Long, Dr. James Mobberly, and Dr. Paul Rudy. After finishing her Masters degree at UMKC in 2003, Xi Wang entered the D.M.A. program at Cornell University, where she is approaching a Doctor of Musical Art degree in Composition program, under the directions of Professor Steven Stucky and Professor Roberto Sierra.

Xi Wang's music is well-crafted and distinctive for its passion and dramatic flair. She has successfully combined the sounds of her native China with those of American concert music, creating a uniquely personal amalgam of Asian and Western points of view.