Wu Fei

Bio:

PLEASE DO NOT ASK TO REMIX MY MUSIC.

Born and raised in Beijing, Wu Fei is a virtuoso composer, vocalist and guzheng (Chinese zither) performer. She spent her formative years at the China Conservatory of Music before coming to the US in 2000.

She holds a M.A. in Composition from Mills College and is a grant recipient of “Meet the Composer”. While at Mills, she began to diversify her sound and experiment widely, working with musicians like John Zorn, Fred Frith, Carla Kilhstedt, Béla Fleck, Pauline Oliveros, and Cecil Taylor.

Wu Fei’s compositions for choir, string quartet, chamber ensemble, Balinese gamelan, orchestra, film, and modern dance exhibit her remarkable skill and profound musical understanding. Her commissions include a composition for Percussions Claviers de Lyon that premiered in the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing.

She has also appeared as a guest on Fred Frith’s Eye to Ear II (2004, Tzadik) and The Happy End Problem (2006, ReR). Wu Fei has performed in cities around the world, including Beijing, Berlin, Rome, Venice, Milano, Dublin, Oslo, Rotterdam, New York and San Francisco.

Her debut album, A Distant Youth (2007, Forrest Hill), features both Frith and violinist Carla Kihlstedt. In fall 2008, her second album Yuan was released on Tzadik Records.

In 2009, after performing in various prestigious music festivals in Norway, Netherlands, and Belgium, Wu Fei met with experimental jazz legend Evan Parker in New York City and presented a duo concert at The Stone.
Later in that year, a DVD entitled “Shan Qi” was released (Ozella Music), filmed in the Italian Alps and highlighting the young artist and several outstanding European musicians, including Guo Yue, Giovanni Amighetti (producer), Guido Ponzini, and Helge A. Norbakken.

In 2010, Wu Fei will be giving performances and lectures in the U.S., Europe, Asia and Africa.


Press Quotes:

"Soulful, lyrical and powerful music from this remarkable young composer/performer from Beijing!" - John Zorn, describing Wu Fei's latest album "Yuan".

"Fei's playing on the guzheng is breathtaking." -Fred Frith

"My soul undergoes a meltdown when Wu Fei's delicate guzheng figures remind us of the frailty of purpose amidst the often overwhelming forces of life." - Paris Transatlantic Magazine

"...Wu Fei, a Chinese guzheng player who shocked the sold-out crowd with her slashing, skittering mastery of the zitherlike instrument..." -San Francisco Chronicle

"Composer Wu Fei , as evidenced by the five compositions on Yuan, occupies a world that straddles traditional Chinese music and more contemporary styles of writing and playing." - All About Jazz New York

" In Wu's work evinces respect for tradition, an interest in what instruments can do, a strong sense of architecture, and good old fashioned showmanship. "-AllMusic

--Featured article on Wu Fei in Women of China Magazine, May 2007:
www.creativemusicworks.org/PR/08.12.2007_CCMS/Practice_Makes_Perfect.pdf



Awards:

Composer Fellowship, the Sally & Don Lucas Artist Residency by Montalvo Arts Center, 2009

"Yuan" Best Album of The Week - Alarm Magazine 11/25/2008

Best World Music Artist 2008 - Westword

Debut record "A Distant Youth" on World Music Chart Europe 2008







Wu Fei playing the Fisherman Song (Yu Zhou Chang Wan, traditional Shandong music) live in Itri, Italy 2007




"She Huo"- premiere in the Forbidden City Concert Hall, Beijing, 04/14/2007. Performed by Percussions Claviers de Lyon; Ms. Pan Eqing (pipa), Wu Fei (guzheng/voice). Music/Poetry composed by Wu Fei






"Summer Palace" by Wu Fei, live from Itri (ITA), summer European Tour 2007



A live recording in Venice of Chun by Wu Fei. From 2007 cd "A Distant Youth" (Forrest Hill). Footage from "Shan Qi" (dvd on Ozella Music). Directed by Giacomo Talamini, Arvmusic, Hive Division.





Interview by Danwei TV (China's top internet TV featured on CNN, BBC, MSNBC etc), April 2007, Beijing. Thanks to Anna Sophie Loewenberg aka Su Fei (check her "Sexy Beijing" episodes featured on CNN, BBC, MSNBC Today's Show), Luke Mines and Jeremy Goldkorn.

Member Since:

June 28, 2005

Members:

"When I open my eyes, I must sigh...I must despise the world which does not know that music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy. Music is the wine which inspires us to new generative processes, and I am the Bacchus who presses out this glorious wine to make mankind spiritually drunken."
- Ludwig van Beethoven


New release "YUAN" on Tzadik Records out on Nov.25, 2008
(click pink links to websites)

USA: Tzadik Records (www.tzadik.com )
Canada: Koch Entertainment (www.kochentertainment.com)
Order "Yuan" from Wu Fei directly:
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"A Distant Youth" (2007) online order sites :


Order "A Distant Youth" from Wu Fei directly:
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Also available on:

Asia:
click pink links to websites
www.hmv.co.jp (Japan)

Europe:
www.fanzinesdistribution.com (Italy)
www.exlibris.ch (Switzerland)
www.Amazon.co.uk (UK)
www.Galileo-mc.de (Germany)
www.Amazon.fr (France)

North America:
www.Amazon.ca (Canada)
U.S.A.
www.Amazon.com
Barnes and Noble
www.Billboard.com
www.CDuniverse.com
Allegro Music

Visit Wu Fei's artist profile on www.WOMEX.com




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Influences:

my father and mother
Zhuangzi (369 BC-286 BC)
guzheng, guqin
beijing, hutong
the summer palace
cats
old school beijing mandarin
chinese folk songs
philosophy
literature
beijing opera
film
traveling
Mills College
modern dance
open-minded people
thinking
calligraphy
galaxies
chess
tian'anmen square
chinese pop from the 30s, 40s, 70s, 80s
charlie chaplin
Leo Tolstoy
michael jackson


In addition:
beethoven, bach, schuman
messiaen, ravel
debussy, satie
stravinsky, tchaikovsky
shostakovich, mussorgsky
prokofiev, scriabin
chopin, holst
bartok, ligeti, kodaly
lutolawski, franz liszt
edvard grieg
leonard bernstein
moondog
akira kurosawa
armand bournonville

cage, stockhausen
merce cunningham, pendereski
toru takemitsu
morton feldman, edgard varèse
charles ives, samuel barber
henry cowell, conlon nancarrow
harry partch, antheil
frank zappa
raymond scott
sofia gubaidulina
george crumb, terry riley
pauline oliveros, frederic rzewski
steve reich
stevan kovacs tickmayer

jimi hendrix, prince
nirvana, charlie parker
miles davis, elizabeth cotten
ahmad jamal, franco donatoni
isang yun, john tavener
wang luo-bin, gao wei-jie
li xi'an, chen qi-gang, tan dun
wang xi-lin, farmers market
kazue sawai, cecil taylor
joëlle léandre, alvin curran
fred frith, bjork
I Nyoman Windha (Bali)
brian wilson
doc watson
hayao miyazaki

Sounds Like:

da past + future

to hear more music of Wu Fei, visit:
myspace.com/feifeifei

For general booking:
info@wufeimusic.com

Booking for Scandinavian region & Germany:
chiessi@chiessiproductions.com

Record Label:

Tzadik, Forrest Hill, ReR, Ozella Music