Portrait of Du Yun

Du Yun receives the Vilcek Prize in Music for her open approach to composition, which subverts the boundaries of traditional classical music by incorporating oral traditions, along with influences ranging from punk, electronic, and experimental music. She is equally known for her arresting operas and her protean artistic outputs. Her virtuosity is evidenced in the diversity of her oeuvre: from her work with her band, Ok Miss, to the visceral A Cockroach’s Tarantella, to her Pulitzer Prize-winning opera, Angel’s Bone.

Born in Shanghai, China, Du Yun began studying piano at the age of 4, and pursued studies in piano and composition at the preparatory school of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music at age 6. She moved to the United States to attend Oberlin College, where she received her Bachelor’s of Music in composition. Du Yun then attended Harvard University, where she completed her PhD in music composition.

Upon graduating from Oberlin’s conservatory program, Du Yun co founded the International Contemporary Ensemble. The organization is a contemporary classical music ensemble committed to advancing experimental music. Du Yun debuted her first opera, Zolle, with the ensemble in 2005. Zolle established Du Yun as a leading force in contemporary classical music, and explores aspects of the human condition that have become defining themes in her work: solitudes, belonging, and the innate desire for human connection.

Du Yun stands in Times Square wearing a colorful dress.

Through her music, Du Yun seeks to expand the boundaries of what is possible in art. Her work bridges sound art and traditional composition, and has had a profound influence on the expansion of classical music. Her operas, compositions, and the work she is doing through her FutureTradition initiative artfully defy and interrogate the genre’s conventions and the power structures that established them.

A leader in contemporary music, Du Yun champions the work of other innovative performers. She served as the artistic director of the Music at the Anthology (MATA) festival from 2014 to 2018. In 2018, she founded the Pan Asia Sounding Festival to challenge and subvert Western presentations of Asian artists. Held in 2018 and 2019, the festival embodied the spirit of Asian futurism, presenting new works on the cutting edge of contemporary performance at National Sawdust in Brooklyn, New York.

Du Yun in a white and black blazer, sitting on a chair.

Awards and Accomplishments

  • Elliott Carter Memorial Resident in Composition, American Academy in Rome (2023)
  • Creative Capital Award (2022)
  • Foundation for Contemporary ArtsGrants to Artists Award(2021)
  • Best New Opera, Music Critics Association of North America (2021)
  • Fellow, American Academy in Berlin (2021)
  • Artist of the Year, Beijing Music Festival (2019)
  • Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts (2018)
  • Carnegie Corporation Great Immigrants, Great Americans (2018)
  • Grammy Award Nomination for Best Contemporary Classical Album (2018)
  • Asian Cultural Council Award (2017)
  • Pulitzer Prize in Music (2017)
  • NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship in Music/Sound (2016)
  • Civitella Ranieri Foundation Award (2015)
  • Detroit Symphony Orchestra Elaine Lebenbom Memorial Award (2009)
  • Chamber Music America (2008)
  • Fromm Music Foundation (2007)
Tags
artist china classical music composer guggenheim fellowship Harvard music Oberlin College opera oral traditions performance art pulitzer prize

Jury Members

2023 Vilcek Prize in Music

Nicole Barsalona

President, Women in Music

Catherine Cho

Faculty Member, The Juilliard School

Jason King

Chair, NYU Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music

Allison Loggins-Hull

Composer and flutist, Allison Loggins-Hull

Ruby Marchand

Chief Awards & Industry Officer, The Recording Academy

Melinda Newman

Executive Editor, Billboard Magazine

Alex Ross

Music Critic, The New Yorker

Steve Smith

Editor, Culture and Arts, WNYC

Related Prize Recipients

Arooj Aftab

Arooj Aftab receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Music for her evocative songs and compositions that incorporate a range of influences from semi-classical Pakistani music and Urdu poetry, to jazz harmonies and experimental music.
Portrait of Arooj Aftab.

Juan Pablo Contreras

Juan Pablo Contreras receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Music for his work as a composer and conductor of orchestral music that draws on his Mexican heritage, and for his leadership in founding the Orquesta Latino Mexicana.
Portrait of Juan Pablo Contreras.

Ruby Ibarra

Ruby Ibarra receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Music for her hip-hop and spoken word performances that center her experience as a Filipina American woman, and for her powerful lyrics that address colonialism, immigration, colorism, and misogyny.
Portrait of Ruby Ibarra.

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