Vivian Fung has distinguished herself among the foremost composers of her generation. Since earning her doctorate from The Julliard School in 2002, Fung has increasingly embraced non-classical influences, including jazz and non-western sources such as Indonesian gamelan and folk songs from the minority regions of China. The New York Times has described her work as “evocative,” and The Strad hails her Uighur-influenced music as “ vital as encountering Steve Reich or the Kronos for the first time.”
Highlights of Fung's recent world premieres include: new choral works by the acclaimed Suwon Civic Chorale in Korea; Chant by pianist Margaret Leng Tan at the Museum of Modern Art; Piano Concerto Dreamscapes by pianist Jenny Lin with Metropolis Ensemble at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City; and the standing-ovation premiere of her String Quartet No. 2 commissioned by the Shanghai Quartet for its 25th anniversary season.
Fung’s upcoming projects include the Canadian premiere of her String Quartet No. 2 by the Shanghai Quartet at the Edmonton Chamber Music Society; an Americas Society concert in NYC featuring her works with the rising stars of Canadian music, a new violin concerto for violinist Kristin Lee and the Metropolis Ensemble in New York City; and a new work for voice and large chamber ensemble
commissioned by Fulcrum Point
New Music Project in Chicago with funding from the MAP fund.
Recognized as “the most memorable part” of the Ying Quartet’s concert at the Weill Recital Hall by the New York Times, Fung’s Pizzicato has been part of the quartet’s repertoire for the past two seasons. In 2004, her music was showcased by the American String Quartet in Bejing as part of the Great Wall International Music Festival. In the same year, Fung traveled to Bali, Indonesia as part of the Asia Pacific Performance Exachange Program, sponsored by the UCLA Center for Intercultural Performance. This past summer 2010, she completed a performance tour of Bali with Gamelan Dharmaswara, including competing in the Bali Arts Festival;
Fung’s music has been commercially released on the Telarc, Çedille, and Signpost labels. She has an impressive body of compositions commissioned and performed by such ensembles as the Seattle Symphony, San José Chamber Orchestra, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Avalon String Quartet, Music from China, and American Opera Projects to name a few.
Fung has been composer-in-residence of the Music in the Loft chamber music series in Chicago, the San José Chamber Orchestra, Music Teacher’s Association of California, and the Billings Symphony. She has also completed residencies at the MacDowell, Yaddo, and Banff arts colonies as well as two residencies at the Atlantic Center for the Arts. Fung is the 2010 New York Foundation for the Arts’ Gregory Millard fellow. She has received numerous awards and grants from ASCAP, BMI, American Music Center, American Composers’ Forum, and the Canada Council for the Arts.
Born in Edmonton, Canada, Vivian Fung began composition studies wi th composer Violet Archer. Other early influences include her mentors David Diamond, Narcis Bonet, and Robert Beaser. Fung is affiliated with The Juilliard School and is an associate composer of the Canadian Music Centre.