Bright Sheng, born in Shanghai, China on 6 December 1955, started piano studies with his mother at the age of four. After graduating from high school during the Cultural Revolution he was one of the first students accepted by the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, where he earned his undergraduate degree in music composition. In 1982, he moved to New York, where he attended Queens College, CUNY, and Columbia University. Among his main teachers were Leonard Bernstein, Chou Wen-chung, Mario Davidovsky, George Perle, and Hugo Weisgall.
Sheng has received a number of prizes in China including Chamber Music Composition and Art Song Competition. In the United States he has received awards and prizes from the National Endowment for the Arts, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, the Illinois Council on the Arts, The Naumburg Foundation, The Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, and the Guggenheim Foundation.
Sheng was the artistic director of the San Francisco Symphony's "Wet Ink 93" Festival and composer-in-residence with the 1993 Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. In April 1992 he began a two-year tenure as composer-in-residence with the Seattle Symphony; during 1994/95 he served as Artist-in-Residence for the University of Washington. Sheng is the former composer-in-residence of the Lyric Opera of Chicago, where his opera, The Song of Majnun, set to a libretto by Andrew Porter, premiered in April 1992.
His music has been performed to great critical response by major ensembles and soloists around the world. The highly acclaimed H'un (Lacerations): In Memoriam 1966-76, his dramatic orchestral portrait of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, has been performed by the New York Philharmonic ("H'un is...naked emotionalism...a battle of the spirit" -- The New York Times), Chicago Symphony (";H'un...signaled the arrival of a significant young composer" -- Chicago Tribune), Cleveland Orchestra, the Baltimore, San Francisco, Honolulu, Milwaukee and Kansas City symphonies, and the Tokyo Philharmonic, among others. Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic performed H'un in six cities on their 1993 European tour and it was featured at the 1994 Warsaw Autumn Festival by Poland's National Philharmonic.
Sheng has also received commissions and performances of his works from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the Houston Symphony, the Seattle Symphony, Tanglewood Music Center, the Shanghai Symphony, Orchestra sinfonica dell'Accademia Nazionale de Santa Cecilia, the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, and from musicians including Leonard Bernstein, Peter Serkin, Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax, Cho-Liang Lin, Gerard Schwarz, David Zinman, John Oliver, Kenneth Jean, Jahja Ling, and Hugh Wolff, among others. Sheng's recent premieres include: Spring Dreams, a work commissioned by Carnegie Hall for Yo-Yo Ma and the National Traditional Orchestra of China, premiered in February 1997 and toured through the United States; his 45-minute music theater piece The Silver River, set to a libretto by David Henry Hwang, commissioned by a consortium of the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Chamber Music Northwest, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and Philharmonic Society of Orange County, premiered in Santa Fe in July 1997; Postcards, a 15-minute orchestral work commissioned by the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, premiered in January 1998; and Flute Moon, commissioned by the Houston Symphony and premiered by them in May 1999. Upcoming premieres include Nanking Nanking by the NDR Symphony and a Piano Concerto for Emanuel Ax and the Boston Symphony, both in January 2000.
Sheng's discography includes a recording on the Delos label of The Song of Majnun with the Houston Grand Opera; and on the New World label of H'un and chamber music featuring Peter Serkin, Lisa Saffer, and the New York Chamber Symphony under Gerard Schwarz. His Two Folk Songs from Qinghai for mixed chorus and orchestra has been recorded by the John Oliver Chorale on Koch International. Bright Sheng's music is published exclusively by G. Schirmer.