About Zihan Wu

Zihan Wu (b. 2001) is a Chinese composer and pianist whose music explores sound as a living process of transformation. Rooted in gesture and timbre, her works unfold through continuously evolving textures, where fleeting resonances, shifting contours, and layered temporalities give rise to forms that emerge, dissolve, and reconfigure. Inspired by physical movement and the behaviors of the natural world, she treats musical materials as living processes that continually reshape musical memory and spatial perception.

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Her works have been presented at festivals including ECLAT Festival, Grafenegg Festival, CEME Festival, Rondò Season, MATA Festival, Aspen Music Festival and School, and the DeGaetano Composition Institute, and many others. An upcoming premiere includes a new orchestral work for the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra at the Lucerne Festival in summer 2026.

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She has collaborated with orchestras and ensembles including Orchestra of St. Luke's, Tonkünstler Orchestra, Klaipėda Chamber Orchestra, Meitar Ensemble, Divertimento Ensemble, JACK Quartet, Fabrik Quartet, Ensemble Court-Circuit, Impronta Ensemble, 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, the MaestrosVision International 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 the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln with Miroslav Srnka. She holds a Master of Music in Composition from the Yale School of Music and dual Bachelor of Music degrees in Composition and Piano Performance from the Eastman School of Music.

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