Yiheng Yvonne Wu is a composer, educator, and interdisciplinary artist whose work ranges from conventionally notated chamber pieces to staged experimental works. Her compositions investigate poetic and physical qualities of instrumental sounds, juxtaposing sonic characters through unconventional musical forms. Open scores invite performers to integrate notation with improvisation. And transdisciplinary performances explore ways to interweave sound and movement. Recent projects have incorporated dance/movement, American Sign Language, poetry, art installation, and video.

Wu has received commissions from the La Jolla Symphony, Arraymusic, Michael Mizrahi and the Wisconsin Music Teachers Association, Figmentum, the Bardin-Niskala Duo, and Bent Frequency, among others. Her music has been performed by the MIVOS string quartet, a.pe.ri.od.ic, Black Sheep Contemporary Ensemble, the University of Washington Percussion Ensemble, and Ensemble SurPlus and featured in the WasteLAnd concert series, the University of Tennessee Contemporary Music Festival, New Music on the Bayou, SoundSCAPE Festival, and Aspen Music Festival. Collaborators have included Jennifer Torrence, Ayako Kato, Christopher Clarino, Bonnie Whiting, Jessica Aszodi, Rachel Beetz, Dustin Donahue, and Todd Moellenberg. “Dreams of a Young Piano,” for solo piano with chamber ensemble, was awarded the 2018 Judith Lang Zaimont Prize by the International Alliance for Women in Music. Her string quartet “Utterance, released on Carrier Records, won the 5th Mivos/Kanter String Quartet Composition Prize.

Wu teaches courses in composition/songwriting, music theory, and interdisciplinary arts. She supports students creating music across many musical genres, including rock, hip hop, folk, indie, pop, game music, gospel, jazz, electronic, experimental, and classical. She is leading the UCCS Music program’s redesign of the four-semester music theory sequence with a focus on incorporating a broad range of musical styles and equipping students with tools they can use in their own music-making. Her VAPA course InterArts Collective brings together musicians, visual artists, videographers, writers, and dancers to collaborate on inter-and transdisciplinary performances and installations. Across her courses, she guides students to build a mutually collaborative and supportive classroom community.

• University of California, San Diego, Ph.D., Music Composition, 2016
• University of California, San Diego, M.A., Music Composition, 2011 
• Yale University B.A., Music, with distinction, 2003 

Lower Division

• MUS 1010 - Music Theory I: Tonality
• MUS 2010 - Music Theory II: Contemporary Harmony