Zhiyi Wang
Being featured in many significant global events and winning more than 10 prestigious international composition prizes, Wang’s music works established his name in serious music, film music and pop music industries. His works have been performed by China National Symphony Orchestra, China Philharmonic, NCPA Orchestra, China Film Symphony Orchestra, The Orchestra of Shanghai Opera House, The Military Band of Chinese people’s Liberation Army, Brno Philharmonic, Senzoku Gakuen New Philharmonic Orchestra, Lviv Philharmonic Orchestra, eighth blackbird, Sound Ways Ensemble, Ensemble Les Amis, RTE ConTempo Quartet, Baroque Camerata, etc. Several major contemporary composers, including George Tsontakis, Morton Subotnick, Gabriel Yared, comment Wang’s music ‘with euphonic harmony and sophisticated techniques’.
As a core member in the music crew of 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Wang composed various music programs for the Opening Ceremony. His Fanfare for the Ceremony was performed when Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee, and Liu Qi, President of the Beijing Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games, entered the stadium to make their opening speeches. His works of arrangement include four programs: the theme song You and Me (performed by Sarah Brightman and Liu Huan), duet song Dream of the Five Rings, Ritual Music, and Lighting of the Olympic Cauldron. Wang’s contribution has been officially acknowledged by the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee, and he received many exclusive interviews from global and domestic media, including New York Public Radio.
Since the establishment of a music studio in 2008, Wang composed a series of music works of different genres, including film and TV score, concert music, pop music, ballet music, and musicals. Regarding film and TV scores, Wang composed original score for the film But Always and Highway of Love, and received “Discovery of the Year” nomination with these two movies from the 15th World Soundtrack Awards together with fellow composers for Birdman and Ex Machina. He was the second Asian nominee since 2001 after Mr. Tan Dun with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in the same award category. Wang also orchestrated and produced the film score for Coming Home by Zhang Yimou in 2014. The film soundtrack won the Best Original Score in the 51st Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan, featuring pianist Lang Lang with China Philharmonic. In 2011 he orchestrated and produced the film score for Zhang Yimou’s film the Flowers of War, which opened widely in cinemas of North America and Asia in December 2011. The soundtrack features American violinist Joshua Bell, Swedish choir Allmänna Sången with China Philharmonic. The film received one nomination for Golden Globe Award and six nominations for Asian Film Awards. Besides, Wang composed the original music for several major documentaries of CCTV, including The Forbidden City 100, Huai the Open Door, The Louvre Meets the Forbidden City, and Jinling: Predestined to Buddha.
With regard to pop music, Wang received two nominations of Best Arrangement in the 25th Golden Melody Awards for Fu Xian Lake and Blooming from 2013 album Li Jian Classic Remake Collections. He also arranged the string orchestra for Sandy Lam’s 2012 album GAIA which swept several major awards including Best Album from the 24th Golden Melody Awards in Taiwan. Wang had been actively involved in China’s most watched Singer Reality Show I am a Singer by recreating new arrangement for classic songs, including Season 2 Jason Zhang and Season 3 Li Jian.
In serious music domain, in 2015, Wang was appointed by Shanghai Conservatory of Music composition department to establish a course Film and Stage Drama Composition designed for senior-grade composition students. He gave lectures by himself as well as invited renowned film composers as guest lecturers globally. Wang has won a series of prestigious international composition competitions and has been selected by several major international composer programs as composer-in-residence and honored participant, including Shanghai Opera House, Shanghai Spring International Music Festival, the National Sun Yat-sen University in Taiwan, Sacrarium International Composers’ Forum in Ukraine and International Contemporary Arts Academy in Romania. In 2014, Wang won two 1st Prizes as the first Chinese winner from Malta International Composition Competition with Three Overlapping Sounds and Senzoku Gakuen International Composition Competition in Japan with The Aroma of Exotic respectively. The Aroma of Exotic was published worldwide in Fall 2014 by Ablaze Records in Orchestral Masters Vol. 2. In 2012, Wang won prizes from International Antonín Dvořák Composition Competition in Czech and International Sergei Slonimsky Composition Competition in Russia
Besides his composing talent, Wang is a superb pianist as well. He held several piano concerts of his own compositions in China and USA in the past few years, and he also performed, especially premiered many new works, in various concerts and music festivals. To recognize his excellence in piano performance, the University of Louisville presented him a prize during his graduate study.
Born in 1980, originally from Suzhou, China, Wang holds Bachelor‘s and Master‘s degrees in music composition from Oberlin College Conservatory and the University of Louisville respectively. His composition advisors include Marc Satterwhite, Randolph Coleman and Ye Guohui.