Bright Sheng Leonard Bernstein Distinguished University Professor

Home , Bright Sheng, Christoph Eschenbach, David Zinman, Jack Beeson, Kurt Masur, Lauren Flanigan

Bright Sheng

Leonard Bernstein Distinguished University Professor of Composition, School of Music, Theater & Dance, University of Michigan

Bright Sheng is a composer, conductor, and pianist. In April of 1999, Mr. Sheng received a special commission from the White House to create a new work for a state dinner, hosted by the president, honoring the Chinese Premiere Zhou Rongji. In October 2001, Bright Sheng was named a MacArthur Fellow with a cash prize of $500,000.

Professor Sheng's music has been widely performed throughout the world by such prestigious groups as the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Minnesota Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Symphony, New York Chamber Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Santa Fe Opera, New York City Ballet, New York City Opera. San Francisco Ballet, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Winnipeg Symphony, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestra Sinfonica dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Hamburg Radio Symphony, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, National Symphony of Russia, Warsaw Symphony, Danish National Radio Symphony, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Dusseldorf Symphony Orchestra, Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra, Bern Symphony Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony, Luxembourg Philharmonic, National Symphony of Spain, Orqesta Sinfonica de Bilbao, Gulbenkian Orchestra (Portugal), Slovenian Radio & TV Symphony, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic, and Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, China National Symphony, Orchestra of National Opera of Greece, among others; and with distinguished musicians including Leonard Bernstein, Christoph Eschenbach, Kurt Masur, Charles Dutoit, Leonard Slatkin, Gerard Schwarz, David Zinman, Neeme Jarvi, David Robertson, Robert Spano, Marin Alsop, Eiji Oue, Bramwell Tovey, Jeffery Kahane, Thomas Dasgaard, Hugh Wolff, Arthur Fagen, Jahja Lin, Sakari Oramo, Muhai Tang, Carl St. Clair, Shui Lan, Yo Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax, Peter Serkin, Yefim Brofman, Evelyn Glennie, Lynn Harrell, Richard Stoltzman, Edgar Meyer, Truls Mork, Jane Eaglen, Elisabeth Futral, Joseph Kaiser, and Lauren Flanigan.

Professor Sheng has appeared as solo pianist and conductor with the San Francisco Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra (Russia), Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra (Germany), Hong Kong Philharmonic, Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, and China National Symphony,among others, and has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and the Tanglewood Music Center. He has also collaborated with such eminent ensembles and individuals as the Emerson Quartet, Takacs Quartet, Shanghai Quartet, St. Petersburg Quartet, Colin Graham (librettist and stage director), Jude Kelly (stage director), Ong Keng Sen (stage director), David Henry Hwang (playwright/librettist), Andrew Porter (librettist), Helgi Tomasson (choreographer), Peter Martins (choreographer), Christopher Wheeldon (choreographer), and Will Tuckett (choreographer).

In addition to many national and international awards, Mr. Sheng has received fellowships and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, Guggenheim Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Naumberg Foundation, Copland Foundation, Michigan Arts Award and a Rackham fellowship and a fellowship from the Institute for the Humanities from the University of Michigan.

Mr. Sheng's music is exclusively published by G. Schirmer, Inc. and records on the Sony Classical, Naxos, Telarc, Delos, Koch International, New World, and Grammofon AB BI labels.

Among his important teachers were Leonard Bernstein, George Perle, Hugo Weisgall, Chou Wen-Chung, and Jack Beeson.

Nomination of Professor Bright Sheng 盛宗亮 to membership in Committee of 100

By Tony Chan (Sept 7, 2014)

My nomination:

Bright Sheng is one of the most prominent and accomplished Chinese American musicians. There certainly are more well‐known Chinese American music performers on the global stage, but Sheng is not only a performer, but also an educator and innovator. His major accomplishments are summarized in the first paragraph of his Wikipedia entry below (MacArthur Fellowship, White House performance, etc). Speaking from first‐hand experience, I can attest that the program Intimacy of Creativity, (http://www.ic.shss.ust.hk/2014/eng/index.html) which he created at HKUST four years ago, has had a major impact not only at HKUST but also in the global world of young performers and composers. In this program, a group of performers are mixed in with a group of composers and they interact over a two week period to discuss and refine new music works, ending with two open concerts at HK’s main concert venues. Financial Times hailed the program as the "city's most innovative musical experience".

He has a track record of engagement in activities to promote constructive relations between the US and Greater China and full participation of Chinese Americans in all aspects of life in the US. He performs, and his work is performed by top musicians, regularly in both the US and Great China (including HK). His music is western classical but includes many Chinese tradition and characteristics. Almost all of his recordings have titles with Chinese components. He highlights his own Chinese heritage and struggles during the Cultural Revolution (see http://brightsheng.com/index.html for his TedX‐UofM talk). In 1999, the White House commissioned Sheng to compose a piece to honor the Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji at a state dinner hosted by President Bill Clinton. His program Intimacy of Creativity at HKUST benefits the local community as well as introduce top US musicians to the HK music scene.

I am certain, if he were to be elected a C100 member, that he’ll bring a much needed additional artistic dimension to C100 and also enhance C100’s mission of promoting better relations between the people of China and the US.

His Chinese CV http://brightsheng.com/Press/shengbiochinese2013.pdf starts with this: “我是一个百分之一百的中国人，也是一个百分之一百的美国人”‐ a perfect fit for C100!

His professional homepage http://brightsheng.com/bio.html contains a lot of updated information about his biography, performances, articles, TedX talk, etc.

Full CV: http://brightsheng.com/Press/CV‐13.pdf .

From Wikipedia:

Bright Sheng (surname Sheng, Chinese: 盛宗亮; pinyin: Shèng Zōngliàng; born December 6, 1955 in Shanghai, China) is a Chinese‐American composer, conductor, and pianist. He has lived in the United States since 1982 and is on faculty at the University of Michigan. In 1999, the White House commissioned Sheng to compose a piece to honor the Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji at a state dinner hosted by President Bill Clinton. In November 2001, Sheng received a MacArthur Fellowship. Sheng is the New York City Ballet's first composer‐in‐residence.

Sheng's compositions have been performed by most major American orchestras, as well as many European and Asian orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, and the China National Symphony. Some of the most notable performers of Sheng's music have included Leonard Bernstein, Yo‐Yo Ma, Peter Serkin, Kurt Masur, Emanuel Ax, Leonard Slatkin, Robert Spano, David Zinman, and Neeme Järvi. Sheng's most notable teachers include Leonard Bernstein and Chou Wen‐Chung.

From his webpage at the University of Michigan:

Leonard Bernstein Distinguished University Professor of Composition

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor [email protected] 734‐647‐9413 Office: 2216 Moore

Mr. Sheng's music is exclusively published by G. Schirmer, Inc. and records on the Sony Classical, Naxos, Telarc, Delos, Koch International, New World, and Grammofon AB BI labels.

Among his important teachers were Leonard Bernstein, George Perle, Hugo Weisgall, Chou Wen‐Chung, and Jack Beeson.

April 1, 2015

Membership Committee of Committee 100 677 5th Ave, Fifth Floor New York, NY 20022

To Whom It May Concern, I have been asked to write a recommendation for Mr. Bright Sheng to support Professor Tony Chan’s nomination of inviting Sheng to be a C100 member. Though I do not know Sheng well on a personal basis, Sheng is definitely one of today’s most prominent and established Chinese American composers and an educator of music. I am recommending him to C100 because I feel that Sheng will definitely contribute significantly to the US-China cultural exchange in the arts and music for the organization. This is an area that is weakly represented and I believe Sheng, based on my own experience in the opera world and In the US-China cultural exchange for 30 years and his most impressive CV, will fill this gap in a very positive way. I therefore recommend Sheng to become a C100 member.

With best wishes

Hao Jiang Tian 150 Columbus Ave, Apt 18D New York NY 10023 2125796893; 3474528688