About Zihan Wu

Zihan Wu (b. 2001) is a Chinese composer and pianist whose music explores sound as a living process of transformation. Closely connected to nature, particularly the movements, behaviors, and hidden worlds of insects, her practice also investigates the physical relationship between performers and their instruments. Rooted in gesture and timbre, her works transform physical movement into biological movement, where impulses, vibrations, and shifting contours interact and reconfigure like living organisms. Exploring the spaces between nature and humanity, the individual and the collective, instinct and intention, her music unfolds through processes of emergence, interaction, and coexistence, leaving room for performers to shape the musical environment through their own interpretations.

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Her works have been presented at festivals including Lucerne Festival, ECLAT Festival, Grafenegg Festival, CEME Festival, Rondò Season, MATA Festival, Aspen Music Festival, DeGaetano Composition Institute, and have been broadcasted in SWR Kultur JetztMusik and Ö1. 

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She has collaborated with orchestras and ensembles including Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke's, Tonkünstler Orchestra, Klaipėda Chamber Orchestra, Meitar Ensemble, Divertimento Ensemble, JACK Quartet, Fabrik Quartet, Ensemble Court-Circuit, and many others with performances throughout Europe, North America, and Asia.

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Her music has received international awards, including First Prize in the Matan Givol International Composers Competition, the MusicOn Composition Competition, and the Beijing International Composition Workshop, as well as the Biennale “Annamaria Strano” Call for Scores, among others.

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Based in Cologne, Germany, she is currently pursuing the Konzertexamen in Composition at Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln with Miroslav Srnka. She holds a Master of Music in Composition from Yale School of Music and dual Bachelor of Music degrees in Composition and Piano Performance from Eastman School of Music.

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