| Jon Jang |
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Jon Jang was born on March 11, 1954 in Los Angeles. After the tragic loss of his father in a two plane collison over the Grand Canyon in 1956, Jon and his brother and sister were raised singlehandedly by his mother in Palo Alto. Not following his mother�s dream of becoming a chemical engineer like his late father, Jon dropped out of academia and began piano lessons at the late age of 19. After two years of study, Jang was accepted at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and awarded the Lydia Lord Davis scholarship. He studied piano with Wilbur Price and composition with Wendell Logan. After three years of study at the Conservatory, Jang received a B.Mus degree in piano performance in 1978. Since then, Jang has followed his own path of creating music which has become "two flowers on a stem", a metaphor expressing the symbiotic relationship of his cultural identity as a Chinese American as well as his musical philosphy of honoring tradtion and encouraging innovation. "My music does not come from the third stream, but the flowing stream." As a composer, Jang has received commissions from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Library of Congress, Kronos Quartet, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Chanticleer, Brava! for Women in the Arts, Kulintang Arts and others. In 1994, Jang composed the score for the dramatic adaptation of Maxine Hong Kingston�s "The Woman Warrior" which was staged at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Huntington Theatre in Boston and Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles. Cal Performances - University of California at Berkeley and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis has commissioned Jon Jang and James Newton to compose "When Sorrow Turns to Joy - Songlines: The Spiritual Tributary of Paul Robeson and Mei Lanfang" which will have its World Premiere presented by Cal Performances at Zellerbach Playhouse, UC Berkeley in June of 2000. Last year Jang was one of 6 artists awarded New Residency from Meet the Composer. As a pianist and artistic director of ensembles, Jon Jang�s ensembles have toured at major concert halls and music festivals in China, South Africa (1994), Europe, Canada and the United States. Four months after the elections to end apartheid in South Africa, Jang felt honored to be the first musician from San Francisco to be invited to perform in the Arts Alive Festival in Johannesburg. With over ten recordings as a leader or collaborator, Jang has recorded with distinguished artists such as Max Roach, Maxine Hong Kingston, James Newton, David Murray, Zhang Yan and Jiebing Chen. (bio lovingly appropriated from AsianImprov.com) |