ZHOU TIAN

Composer Zhou Tian's music has been played by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (under Daniel Meyer), the Minnesota Orchestra (under Osmo Vänskä), American Composers Orchestra, the St. Cloud Symphony, Symphony in C, Curtis Symphony, Guangzhou Symphony, the Biava Quartet, the Arditti Quartet, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. Zhou is a first-prize winner of the Washington International Competition for Composers, a three-time winner of ASCAP/Morton Gould Young Composer Award and recipient of Composition Fellowships from the Tanglewood, Aspen, and Fontainebleau Music Festivals.

Zhou's compositions have received multiple performances in prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. In 2008 the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra performed Zhou's work The Palace of Nine Perfections in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Hong Kong in the orchestra's first China Tour. His newest CD, Symphonic Suite: The Grand Canal was recorded by the Guangzhou Symphony and released by China's largest recording label Pacific Audio & Video in 2009. Zhou's recent premieres include First Sight, commissioned and premiered by the Minnesota Orchestra under Sarah Hicks, and Blowing Westward, premiered by award-winning percussionist Pius Cheung at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall.

Born in 1981 in the city of Hangzhou, China, Zhou holds a Bachelor of Music from The Curtis Institute of Music, a Master of Music from The Juilliard School, and he is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Southern California. Zhou's private teachers have included Jennifer Higdon, Richard Danielpour, Christopher Rouse, Stephen Hartke, and Donald Crockett (composition); Meng-Chieh Liu and Antoinette Perry (piano). Zhou served as Composer-in-Residence for Music In the Loft in Chicago for the 2007-08 season. His current projects include a flute sonata commissioned by Jeffrey Khaner, the principle flautist of Philadelphia Orchestra, and a new orchestral piece commissioned by The Green Bay Symphony, where Zhou serves as Composer-in-Residence for the 2009-10 season.

Please note: Zhou Tian's family name is Zhou; his given name is Tian. His full name is pronounced: Jo Tyen. He goes by Zhou [Jo].