This lunchtime music performance by Wu Fei will include selection from the Chinese canon, kunqu 昆曲 opera, Beijing chaqu’er 插曲儿, contemporary composition and improvisation.

Biography

Born and raised in Beijing, Wu Fei is a composer, vocalist, and performer of the guzheng (Chinese zither). She began performing guzheng at the age of six, and spent her formative years studying composition at the China Conservatory of Music before moving to the US in 2000. She holds an M.A. in Composition from Mills College.

Wu Fei has performed and recorded with musicians such as John Zorn, Fred Frith, Secret Chiefs 3, Carla Kilhstedt, and Abigail Washburn. Her commissions range from a composition for the Percussions Claviers de Lyon that premiered in the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, to live performances in Paris and Tokyo for Hermès. She has composed for symphony orchestra, choir, string quartet, chamber ensemble, Balinese gamelan, film, and modern dance. She has performed at the Stone, MoMA and globalFest in Webster Hall in New York City, North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands, Vossa Jazz Festival in Norway, and Europalia in Belgium. She was a composer-in-residence at Montalvo Arts Center (CA) in 2011 and has performed in universities and colleges around the world including: Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, China Conservatory of Music, Univ. of Richmond, Rider Univ., Denver Univ., Norwegian Academy of Music etc.

Her solo albums are A Distant Youth (2007, Forrest Hill) and Yuan (2008, Tzadik Records). Her most recent release is Pluck (2011), the eponymous record of her duo with Brooklyn based classical guitarist Gyan Riley. Wu Fei is also a member of the Nashville-based band The Wu-Force who are currently finishing off their first record.