PIPA VIRTUOSO WU MAN RECEIVES GRAMMY AWARD NOMINATIONS
Wu Man has received two Grammy Award nominations with all three recordings that she has performed on in the past year nominated for awards.
Wu Man has been nominated for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with Orchestra) with conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya for the recording of Lou Harrison's Pipa Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The concerto features on the Traditions and Transformations: Sounds of the Silk Road Chicago CD released on the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's CSO Resound label. Wu Man is a senior member of the Silk Road Ensemble that was founded by Yo-Yo Ma.
Wu Man's second Grammy Award nomination is for Best Small Ensemble Performance for the world premiere recording of Tan Dun's Pipa Concerto with conductor Yuri Bashmet. This Onyx Classics CD also includes performances by the Moscow Soloists and conductor Roman Balashov of Hikaru Hayashi's Viola Concerto and Toru Takemitsu's Nostalgia.
Traditions and Transformations: Sounds of the Silk Road Chicago has also garnered nominations for Best Engineered Album, Classical (David Frost, Tom Lazarus and Christopher Willis) and Producer of the Year, Classical for David Frost. Wu Man's recording of Terry Riley's The Cusp of Magic with the Kronos Quartet is part of Judith Sherman's nomination for Producer of the Year, Classical.
Wu Man's Grammy nominations follow her being made a 2008 United States Artists Broad Fellow in November.
WU MAN NAMED A 2008 UNITED STATES ARTISTS FELLOW
Wu Man’s success in introducing the pipa to western audiences, musicians and composers has received national recognition. She has been named a 2008 United States Artist Fellow and has received a $50,000 grant. This year’s fellows were honored at a celebration held at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago at which Wu Man also performed. To become a USA Fellow, one must be nominated. Each year nominations are made by an anonymous group of arts leaders, critics, scholars, and artists chosen by USA. Nominators are asked to submit names of artists they believe show an extraordinary commitment to their craft.
Wu Man has a number of exciting performances and tours scheduled for the 2008-09 season…
Tours
 Wu Man will continue international tours with the Silk Road Ensemble to Qatar in November 2008 and to United Arab Emirates and India in January 2009. The Silk Road Ensemble will also tour the U.S in March 2009 with dates in Providence, RI, Boston, MA, North Bethesda, MD, Ann Arbor, MI, Minneapolis, MN and Toronto Canada.
Season Highlights
Wu Man will launch The Phoenix Symphony’s 2008-09 season and its inaugural World Music Festival with performances of Lou Harrison’s Pipa Concerto on September 11 and 13. She will also perform herself co-composed with Chen Yi’s Ancient Dances and Terry Riley’s The Cusp of Magic as part of the World Music Festival on September 14 with the Kronos Quartet.
Wu Man will make her Toronto Symphony Orchestra debut performing the Canadian premiere Tan Dun’s Pipa Concerto with conductor Peter Oundjian on March 7, 2009. Additionally this season Wu Man will perform with longtime collaborators the Kronos Quartet at the Barbican Centre in London, where they will perform Tan Dun’s Ghost Opera in May 2009, and at Carnegie Hall, for a special concert celebrating the 45th anniversary of Terry Riley’s In C on April 24, 2009.
Wu Man’s full 2008-09 schedule is available here (link to schedule web page)
CD News
Wu Man made her critically acclaimed debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performing Lou Harrison’s Pipa Concerto with the Silk Road Ensemble in 2007, which was written by the late Mr. Harrison for her. The concert is featured on Traditions and Transformations: Sounds of Silk Road Chicago on CSO Resound that was released in February.
Also released in February was the Kronos Quartet and Wu Man’s recording of Terry Riley’s The Cusp of Magic on Nonesuch. In addition to the pipa, Wu Man also sings on this recording.
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