MAN WU Wu Man is an internationally renowned pipa virtuoso, cited by the Los Angeles Times as the artist most responsible for bringing the pipa to the Western World. She is an inheritress of the Pudong School of pipa playing, one of the most prestigious classical styles of Imperial China and is a graduate of the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Wu Man is the first recipient of a masters degree in pipa and is not only an outstanding exponent of the traditional repertoire, but is also recognized as a leading interpreter of contemporary pipa music.
Born in Hangzhou, China, Wu Man studied with Lin Shicheng, Kuang Yuzhong, Chen Zemin, and Liu Dehai at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. She currently lives in Boston where she was selected as a Bunting Fellow at Radcliffe Institute of Harvard University. Wu Man was selected by Yo-Yo Ma as the winner of the City of Toronto Glenn Gould Protegé Prize in music and communication. Wu Man is also the first artist from China to have performed at the White House with the noted cellist with whom she now performs in the Silk Road Project.
When in China, Wu Man received many awards, including the first prize in the 1st National Music Performance Competition. She also participated in many groundbreaking premieres of exciting works by a new generation of Chinese composers. Since moving to the USA, 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.
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