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As an American citizen for the past twenty four years, I've heard America the Beautiful more than a dozen times. Each time, different feelings come up for me. There was a time when singing this song held New Yorkers together to brave the aftermath of 9/11. Another time I cried when I heard Ray Charles' America the Beautiful: he too, saw the strength this song represents even if he was blind. Fast forward a few more years, I wrote a symphonic overture based on America the Beautiful tracing the silhouette of Colorado's Pike's Peak, where the lyrics were born. Composing this piece for Min Kwon became an opportunity to offer a kind of musical summery: just as my experience around America the Beautiful brings up a mixture of emotions, different sounds in my piece gel to create a single narrative. I'd like to think my piece expresses what is great about this nation: being an American means acknowledging and embracing the melting pot that defines America. Being an American today means knowing the American story is unfinished: her youthfulness, spontaneity, welcoming humor, as well as the seriousness for freedom, and the urgency to call for action. "O beautiful for spacious skies," all under the same flag.
In an interview with the Strad Magazine, Wang Jie said "I desperately want classical music audiences to feel...a sense of kinship, to feel at home with my music even if it’s the first hearing, to want more of my music for its truthfulness." Unveiling poetry in the human condition, re-bearing the beauty of classical music, and paving new paths for lasting public engagement are at the heart of her artistry.
Many consider Wang Jie's stylistic versatility a rare trait among today's composers. One day she spins a few notes into a large symphony, the next she conjures a malevolent singing rat onto the opera stage. At age 4, Jie began training on the piano and composition in the private studio of the esteemed composer and pianist Yang Liqing, which lasted for 14 years. In an essay, Jie affectionately wrote: "He was my hero. I was determined to become his clone, giggles and all." At 29, Jie's Carnegie Hall debut was a career-launcher. She not only surprised the American Composers Orchestra by composing a miniature opera for the concert stage, Jie also shape-shifted to become a character in her own opera FROM THE OTHER SKY, swiveling between several keyboard instruments and undergoing several costume changes.
Earlier in her career, her SYMPHONY NO.2, commissioned and premiered by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Leonard Slatkin was streamed live to a worldwide audience. You might have also heard about her second concert opera: IT RAINED ON SHAKOPEE. This opera is based on her experience at the Minnesota state prison where she mentored inmates. At the end of the opera, 11 of the inmates and their recorded voices are heard singing with the orchestra. Hearing their voices, from inside the prison walls, was especially moving for concert-goers.
During the three years of pandemic America, Jie's SYMPHONY NO.1 was the most-broadcast symphony on public radio, reaching 1.5 million world-wide listeners each airing. A popular concert opener, her SYMPHONIC OVERTURE - AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL is adored by tens of thousands of live audiences across the United States each year. A devoted chamber music pianist, she is among the first group of composers to receive commissions from the Chamber Music Society at Lincoln Center and Music@Menlo. A fast composer, the year 2022 was special for Jie. She exhaled four works in a row for the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, the Cathedral of St. John and Divine, and The Apollo Chamber Players. The way she put it: "I learned to retune my instrument - the composer's instrument - which is my body, and an outpouring of what feels like empathy took over the manuscript. That's when I, the composer, must get out of the way."
During the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, Jie decided to visit Ukraine to support the Lviv National Philharmonic in person. The orchestra performed two of her symphonies, while live streaming the concert to a world-wide audience. What Jie said to the audience was, "Death doesn’t scare me. What I fear the most is if my music failed to move people who already love music, or failed to speak beyond all kinds of divide, be it geographical or cultural."
Jie holds a Ph.D. in music theory and composition from New York University. Her dissertation was an interdisciplinary investigation of extraordinary artistic creativity through the lenses of Symbolic Philosophy, Psychology and Neuroscience. Previously, she obtained Artist Diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music, Master and Bachelor of Music from the Manhattan School of Music. Not one to ever stop learning, aside from her career as a composer, Jie is a devoted practitioner of Indian classical dance and the Carnatic percussion instrument Mridangam.
As the artistic director of Center for Musical Excellence, I am always on the look out for new and undiscovered talents. They come to me, sometimes, by my colleagues’ recommendations and other times through young artists’ own research about our organization. Tyson Davis and Andrew Bambridge are currently on our roster of CME Young Artists, whom we mentor. Patricio Molina is a CME alumnus. Theo Chandler, Ji-Young Ko, and Daniel Newman-Lessler applied for our Grant program, and I got to know their work through that process. I decide on young artists when I notice a deep passion and drive within them, plus a certain kind of sparkle in the personality and lots of humility. In addition to musical talents, I believe these are the qualities that will take the young artists far. CME’s motto is "Moving Musicians Forward". I’ve chosen our Discovery Composers based on these qualities, whom we felt we could easily move forward.
- Min Kwon