Du Yun

Biography

Du Yun was born in Shanghai, China. She began studying piano at the age of four, attending the primary school Shanghai Conservatory of Music for piano. She studied composition at the middle school Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Du later moved to the United States and graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music with a Bachelor of Music degree in composition and received a PhD in music composition from Harvard University.

In 2006, Du Yun joined the composition faculty at the State University of New York-Purchase. In 2017, she joins the composition faculty at Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. Same year, she is also appointed as the artist-in-residence at the SHCM-Berklee Contemporary Music Institute, a joint establishment between the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and the Berkelee College of Music.

For her earlier years growing up in Shanghai, Du recounted, in her contribution to WQXR, that both her parents never went to college and were factory workers in China.

She uses her whole name Du Yun, not Du, for professional and personal uses.

Career

Her works include compositions for solo instruments, electroacoustic music, chamber music, orchestral works, opera, indie pop, theatre, oral tradition music, sound installations, and performance art pieces. Du's works have been performed internationally in venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Guangzhou Opera House, the Salle Pleyel Paris, the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Escola de Música do Estado in São Paulo, the Darmstädter Ferienkurse in Germany. She has written for the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players and solo artists Hilary Hahn and Matt Haimovitz.

In 2014, Du Yun was named the Artistic Director of the MATA Festival in New York City.

On April 10, 2017 she was awarded with Pulitzer Prize for Music for her second opera Angel's Bone. The citation for the prize reads: "Premiered on January 6, 2016, at the Prototype Festival, 3LD Arts and Technology Center, New York City, a bold operatic work that integrates vocal and instrumental elements and a wide range of styles into a harrowing allegory for human trafficking in the modern world. Libretto by Royce Vavrek."

Du Yun is an advocate for women, racial equality and social justice. In an interview with National Public Radio on the gender issue in classical music, she says:" I think this is the issue — larger and deeper than the debate of discrimination at hand. Any sustainable and viable career paths cannot and should not depend on a few people's luck." Speaking to Foreign Policy on art's power in politics: “A lot of times politics, global issues, are very black and white... There is a place for that, but it’s also fantastic to have art side by side, from different viewpoints open for interpretations.”

Collaborations

Notable collaborations include with visual artist Shahzia Sikander, flutist Claire Chase, librettist Royce Vavrek.

Critical reception

Du Yun is regarded as one of China's leading young composers. Her onstage performing persona has been described as "adventurously eclectic" and "an indie diva with avant garde edge" by The New York Times. She was named one of the top 35 female composers in classical music by The Washington Post.

Fellowships

Awards