Huang, Wan-Jen
Biography
Born: 1970
Country: Taichung, Taiwan
Studies: National Taiwan Normal University (B.M., M.M.)
Teachers: Shing-kwei Tzeng
One of the talented new-generation composers in Taiwan, Wan-Jen Huang was born in Taichung City in 1970. She has exhibited her fondness and talent for music since she was a child. She studied piano with Prof. Li-Ying Huang and composition with Prof. Tseng, She received both bachelor’s and master’s degrees with distinction from the National Taiwan Normal University. Presently, she teaches music at Taichung’s Stella Matutina Girls’ High School. She devotes herself to music composition and has written chamber music works such as People of the Right Side, Greed, Chasing, Construction, Overlap, among others.
After many years of writing for percussion and working with percussionists such as Richard Jensen, Tzong-Ching Ju, Ya-Wen Lien, Herman Rieken, Jose Vincent, and Pei-Ching Wu, Huang has become versatile with the application of a variety of different percussion tone colors and has challenged the percussionist with innovative musical or technical possibilities for percussion music. She was commissioned by the Ju Percussion Group (JPG) to write Flame Dance for marimba solo with six mallets, which was given a world premiere by Pei-Ching Wu at the Taipei’s National Concert Hall in 1995. Her percussion works have been played extensively by many percussionists and percussion groups. The percussion quintet Adventure commissioned by the JPG was premiered by the world renowned Amsterdam Percussion Group in the Taipei International Percussion Convention (TIPC) at Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall in 1996. It was well received by percussionists and audiences alike at the festival. In 1999 the same work was expanded as a septet and was performed by the Taipei Percussion. The JPG has also performed the piece at PASIC 2000 to critical acclaim.
Her music attempts to portray the emotions of the human being and the greatness of nature. These elements are evident in works such as Adventure. Her refreshing and creative styles as well as delicate composition techniques are quite well received by audiences in Taiwan and abroad.[1]
Works for Percussion
Adventure - Percussion Quintet
Flame Dance - Marimba
Marimba Concerto (Huang) - Marimba; Orchestra
Water Fairies - Marimba
References
- ↑ http://wvuscholar.wvu.edu:8881//exlibris/dtl/d3_1/apache_media/L2V4bGlicmlzL2R0bC9kM18xL2FwYWNoZV9tZWRpYS83Mzc3.pdf Research Project at West Virginia University "EXTENDED MULTIPLE MALLET PERFORMANCE IN KEYBOARD PERCUSSION THROUGH THE STUDY OF PERFORMING TECHNIQUES OF FLAME DANCE AND WATER FAIRIES BY WAN-JEN HUANG", Pei-Ching Wu