Bright Sheng

Leonard Bernstein Distinguished University Professor of Composition
bsheng@umich.edu
734-647-9413

Professor Sheng is a composer, conductor, and pianist. In April of 1999, Mr. Sheng received a special commission from the White House to create a new work for a state dinner, hosted by the president, honoring the Chinese Premiere Zhou Rongji. In October 2001, Bright Sheng was named a MacArthur “Genius” Fellow with a cash prize of $500,000.

Professor Sheng’s Nanking! Nanking! was recently premiered by Northern German Radio Symphony in Hamburg, conducted by Christoph Eschenbach. Other recent premiers include Red Silk Dance, Silver River, Flute Moon, China Dreams, Four Movements for Piano Trio, Madame Mao and a quadruple concerto for the New York Philharmonic celebrating twentieth debut anniversary of Yo Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax. He was Distinguished Guest Composer of Winnipeg Symphony in Canada and he recently conducted the China National Symphony Orchestra in concert of his symphonic music in Beijing.

Professor Sheng has appeared as solo pianist with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, as a conductor  with the San Francisco Ballet, Tanglewood Music Center, and the Asian Youth Orchestra among many more. He has collaborated with many distinguished musicians including Leonard Bernstein, Gerard Schwarz, Leonard Slatkin, David Zinman, and Neeme Järvi. His music has been widely performed in the United States, Europe and in Asia.

In addition to many national and international awards, Mr. Sheng has received fellowships and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, Guggenheim Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Naumberg Foundation, Copland Foundation.. Last year, he was the recipient of the Michigan Arts Award and a Rackham fellowship from the University of Michigan.

Mr. Sheng’s music is exclusively published by G. Schirmer, Inc. and records on the Sony Classical, Delos, Koch International, New World, and Grammofon AB BI labels.

Among his important teachers were Leonard Bernstein, George Perle, Hugo Weisgall, Chou Wen-Chung, and Jack Beeson.

School of Music, Theatre & Dance Faculty and Staff Directory:
Alphabetical Listing
Departmental Listing