Vivian Fung (born 1975) is a Canadian-born

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

who writes music for orchestras, operas, quartets, and piano. Her compositions have been performed internationally.

Early life and education

Fung was born in

Edmonton, Alberta Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city anchor ...

. She began composition studies with

Violet Archer Violet Louise Archer (24 April 191321 February 2000) was a Canadian composer, teacher, pianist, organist, and percussionist. Born Violet Balestreri in Montreal, Quebec, in 1913, her family changed their name to Archer in 1940. She died in Ottawa o ...

and later studied with Narcis Bonet in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. She received her doctorate from

The Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 2002, where her mentors included David Diamond and

Robert Beaser Robert Beaser (born May 29, 1954, Boston, Massachusetts) is an American composer. Biography Beaser was brought up in a non-musical family. His father was a physician and mother was a chemist. He grew up in Newton, Massachusetts, where he dist ...

Career

Fung's compositions blend Western musical forms with musical ideas from many cultures, including Balinese and Javanese

gamelan Gamelan () ( jv, ꦒꦩꦼꦭꦤ꧀, su, ᮌᮙᮨᮜᮔ᮪, ban, ᬕᬫᭂᬮᬦ᭄) is the traditional ensemble music of the Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese peoples of Indonesia, made up predominantly of percussive instruments. T ...

, and folk songs from minority regions of China. Fung travels often, exploring the diverse cultures of North Vietnam, Spain, and Bali, Indonesia. Her personal heritage has played a strong role in her music. In 2012, Fung traveled to Southwest China for ethno-musicological research to study minority music and cultures in the Yunnan province. It was a continuation of the research that previously inspired "Yunnan Folk Songs" (2011). The project was commissioned by Fulcrum Point New Music in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

with support from the MAP Fund. Fung has received a number of awards and grants, including the 2012 Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship,

New York Foundation for the Arts The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is an independent 501(c)(3) charity, funded through government, foundation, corporate, and individual support, established in 1971. It is part of a network of national not-for-profit arts organizations ...

’ Gregory Millard Fellowship, and from

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

, BMI, the

American Music Center New Music USA is a new music organization formed by the merging of the American Music Center with Meet The Composer on November 8, 2011. The new organization retains the granting programs of the two former organizations as well as two media program ...

, the MAP Fund, Music Alive!, and the

League of American Orchestras The League of American Orchestras, formerly the American Symphony Orchestra League, is a North American service organization with 700 member orchestras of all budget sizes and types, plus individual and institutional members. Based in New York Ci ...

American Composers Forum The American Composers Forum is an American organization that works for the promotion and assistance of American composers and contemporary classical music. It was founded in 1973 as the Minnesota Composers Forum and is based in Saint Paul, Minn ...

, and the

Canada Council for the Arts The Canada Council for the Arts (french: Conseil des arts du Canada), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It acts as the federal government's principal in ...

. Fung has been the composer-in-residence of the Delaware Chamber Music Festival, the Music in the Loft chamber music series in Chicago, the San Jose Chamber Orchestra, and the Billings Symphony. She also completed residencies at the MacDowell,

Yaddo Yaddo is an artists' community located on a estate in Saratoga Springs, New York. Its mission is "to nurture the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment.". On March ...

, and Banff arts colonies, as well as residencies at the

Atlantic Center for the Arts Atlantic Center for the Arts (ACA) is a nonprofit, interdisciplinary artists’ community and arts education facility providing artists an opportunity to work and collaborate with contemporary artists in the fields of composing, visual, liter ...

. She is also an associate composer of the

Canadian Music Centre The Canadian Music Centre was founded in 1959 by a group of Canadian composers who saw a need to create a repository for Canadian music. It now holds Canada's largest collection of Canadian concert music, and works to promote the music of its As ...

. Fung's "Violin Concerto" earned her the 2013

Juno Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

for Classical Composition of the Year. After the world premiere in March 2011 of Fung's work "Yunnan Folk Songs", ''

The Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

wrote'', "'Yunnan Folk Songs' stood out ...

ith The Ith () is a ridge in Germany's Central Uplands which is up to 439 m high. It lies about 40 km southwest of Hanover and, at 22 kilometres, is the longest line of crags in North Germany. Geography Location The Ith is immediatel ...

a winning rawness that went beyond exoticism." In 2012, the Naxos Canadian Classics label released the world premiere recording of Fung's "Violin Concerto #1", her "Piano Concerto (Dreamscapes)", and "Glimpses" for prepared piano, with the Metropolis Ensemble conducted by Andrew Cyr, featuring violinist Kristin Lee, and pianist Conor Hanick. Several of her works have also been released commercially on the

Telarc Telarc International Corporation is an American audiophile independent record label founded in 1977 by two classically trained musicians and former teachers, Jack Renner and Robert Woods. Based in Cleveland, Ohio, the label has had a long associ ...

, Çedille, and

Signpost Traffic signs or road signs are signs erected at the side of or above roads to give instructions or provide information to road users. The earliest signs were simple wooden or stone milestones. Later, signs with directional arms were introduce ...

labels. Fung's "String Quartet No.3" was commissioned by the 11th

Banff International String Quartet Competition The Banff International String Quartet Competition is held once in three years at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Banff, Alberta, Canada. History The competition was organized in 1983 by Kenneth Murphy to celebrate the 50th anniversar ...

(BISQC). It was performed by ten string quartets; the American group, the

Dover Quartet The Dover Quartet is an American string quartet. It was formed at the Curtis Institute of Music in 2008 and its members are graduates of both the Curtis Institute of Music and the Rice University Shepherd School of Music. Its name is taken from ...

, won first prize. ''

The Calgary Herald The ''Calgary Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Publication began in 1883 as ''The Calgary Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate, and General Advertiser''. It is owned by the Postmedia Network. History ''The C ...

'' lauded the piece and referred to it as "Dark Journeys". As music critic Stephan Bonfield pointed out, the work is Fung's emotional response to the world conflict during that year, seen from the point of view of her own family's struggles.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fung, Vivian 1975 births Living people 21st-century Canadian composers Musicians from Edmonton Juilliard School alumni Juno Award for Classical Composition of the Year winners 21st-century classical composers Canadian classical composers Women classical composers 21st-century women composers Canadian women composers 21st-century Canadian women musicians