Photo: Ron Jones
Lei Liang (b.1972) is a Chinese-born
American composer whose works have been described as
“hauntingly beautiful and sonically colorful” by
The New York
Times,
and as “far, far out of the ordinary, brilliantly original
and inarguably gorgeous” by The Washington
Post.
Winner of the 2011 Rome Prize, Lei Liang is the recipient
of a Guggenheim Fellowship and an Aaron Copland Award. He
was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic and Alan
Gilbert for the inaugural concert of the
CONTACT!
new music series.
Other commissions and performances come from the Taipei
Chinese Orchestra, Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, the
Heidelberger Philharmonisches Orchester, the Thailand
Philharmonic, pipa virtuoso Wu Man, the Fromm Music
Foundation, Meet the Composer, Chamber Music America, the
National Endowment for the Arts, MAP Fund, Mary Flagler
Cary Charitable Trust, the Manhattan Sinfonietta, Arditti
Quartet, Shanghai Quartet, the Scharoun Ensemble of the
Berlin Philharmonic, San Francisco Contemporary Music
Players, New York New Music Ensemble and Boston Musica
Viva. Lei Liang’s music is recorded on Naxos, Mode, New
World, Innova and Telarc Records. As a scholar, he is
active in the research and preservation of traditional
Asian music.
Lei Liang studied composition with Sir Harrison Birtwistle,
Robert Cogan, Chaya Czernowin, and Mario Davidovsky, and
received degrees from the New England Conservatory of Music
(BM and MM) and Harvard University (PhD). A Young Global
Leader of the World Economic Forum, he held fellowships
from the Harvard Society of Fellows and the Paul &
Daisy Soros Fellowships. Lei Liang taught in China as a
distinguished visiting professor at Shaanxi Normal
University College of Arts in Xi'an; served as honorary
professor of composition and sound design at Wuhan
Conservatory of Music and as visiting assistant professor
of music at Middlebury College. He currently serves as
associate professor of music and chair of the composition
area at the University of California, San Diego. Lei
Liang’s music is published exclusively by Schott Music
Corporation (New York).