Composer and performer Fay Wang’s work spans and draws on a variety of genres, including avant-garde concert music, theater, film, electronic music, Chinese folk music and indie pop. She is hailed as "rebellious” and “creative” by China Daily. Her music is described as “rambunctious and rocklike” by New York Times, and “mysterious”, “unusual”, “the great spirit and sense of rhythm” by European media.
Her works are performed across China, Europe and the United States, including venues such as Berliner Philharmonie, Lincoln Center, Arnold Schoenberg Center, Musikverein, Oper Graz, Merkin Hall, Joseph Haydn-Saal, Yun Isang Memorial Hall, Shanghai Concert Hall, and Beijing’s National Center for the Performing Arts. Honors and awards include “China National Arts Fund” award, “Golden Bell” Award, “Governmental Award", ASCAP Young Composer Award.
Wang has received numerous commissions from institutions including the BOAC’s People Commission Fund (Roger Shapiro Fund for New Music), Hopkins Center for Arts (Andrew W. Mellon Foundation), Classic Euro Young Festival, Shanghai Spring International Music Festival, Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, Beijing Dance Academy, and Yale Center Beijing. Wang has collaborated with many orchestras, ensembles and artists worldwide, including the China Philharmonic Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, Sinfonia Iuventus, the RIAS Youth Orchestra, Bang On A Can All-Stars, Dinosaur Annex, Shanghai Quartet, and Ensemble De Reihe.
Wang is one of the co-founders of New York based composer/performer ensemble Invisible Anatomy, and has served as co-producer and composer on the RiteNow project. Wang holds degrees from the Central Conservatory of Music (BA '08) and the Yale School of Music (MM '10 / AD ’12) where she received the Ezra Laderman Prize and John Day Jackson Prize. She is a visiting professor at the Academy of Music in Krakow. Musikverlag Doblinger, Vienna publishes several of Wang’s pieces. Her music has been broadcast on China Central Television, Austrian National Broadcast and WQXR of New York.
Photo by XIxi Arts Center
Press -
"Creative", "rebellious" - China Daily (China)
"otherworldly and uncanny", "The singer’s voice is sweet and smooth.", "Vocalist Fay Wang studied microexpressions — the involuntary facial tics that betray otherwise concealed emotions — with the goal to interpret them musically while simultaneously reproducing them with her own mien." - Village Voice (US) (with Invisible Anatomy)
"China-born New York-based composer/vocalist Fay Wang rises to the occasion with her original, genre-bending, microtonal composition Hypnotist. She unfolds her themes in four-part choral homophony with rich orchestration; trembly strings, driving percussion and jazzy guitar riffs by her husband, Brendon Randall-Myers. But it’s Wang’s own breathy, bluesy torch-singing vocalization that propels the piece, despite the enigmatic opacity of her self-written text." - Vancouver Observer (Canada)
"Rising star composer" - Time Out Beijing (China)
"Sometimes haunting sometimes hilarious and consistently mesmerizing” - I Care If You Listen (US) (with Invisible Anatomy)
"Combining sustained, dissonant chords in the strings with quick, seemingly random melodic lines, the intricate piece highlights the complexity of our emotions and how difficult it can be to decipher the meaning behind each gesture. Fittingly, Wang’s haunting, whispery vocals weave in and out of the foreground, at times blending into the instrumental riffs to emphasize the mystery of expressions." - Second Inversion (US) (with Invisible Anatomy)
"A unique discovery", "energetic ambiance", "a very hip and alternative soundscape", "unique orchestration", "melodic genius", "minimalistic, reflected a sense of urgency and drive", "dynamics increased, leading to gorgeous, climatic music", "interesting vocal moments... held out some impressive top notes to great effect" - OperaWire (US)
"unusual", "imperial" - Berliner Woche (Germany)
"mysterious" - Schwind Kommunikation (Germany)
“visionary“ - Golem Informazione (Germany)
"A wild, trippy piece that we love to perform." - quote from Joe Brennan @ CutCommon (Australia)