Yu Tao
Born in 1981 in Beijing; from the age of fourteen she studied composition privately with Wang Ning, and then with Yao Heng-lu. Her teachers at the Beijing Conservatoire were Shi Wan-chun (1996–2000) and Wang Ning (2000–02). During the years 2002–05 she studied composition with Nicolas Bolens and Éric Gaudibert, and electronic music with Rainer Boesch and Émile Ellberger at the Conservatoire of Geneva. She has also participated in composition courses at IRCAM in Paris.
She was composer-in-residence of the Hartung Bergman foundation, Percussions Claviers de Lyon and Art Zoyd foundation in France, Fondazione Buziol in Italy, and Ragazze Quartet in Holland. She has received commissions from such ensembles as Phoenix, Ilôrkestra, Milles-cordes, 3D, Ums‘n Jip and Laboratorium, as well as the Davos festival. During the years 2008–10 she composed the opera Ah Q, which was commissioned by Grame and the French Ministry of Culture, and staged in France, Italy and China in collaboration with Percussions Claviers de Lyon and the China Folk Art Group. The support of the Swiss foundations ASM and SUISSA enabled her to complete two concert tours with the Atros group in 12 cities in Switzerland and China. As director of the concert committee of the Alliance for Women in Music she organised a series of concerts in seven towns in the US and Taiwan, and in Lyon. Her works have been performed in China, Japan, South Korea, Poland, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, France and the US. She lives in Paris.
S e l e c t e d w o r k s: Rose for soprano and piano (1999), Poetry of the Autumn Wind for ensemble of Chinese instruments (2000), Happiness from Heavenfor electric guitar and vibraphone (2000), String Quartet No. 1 “Silk and Bamboo” (2001), Taoism, Reason and Concretion, for flute, oboe, clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon and horn (2001), Etude, electronic music (2002), Sentiment of the Qin for soprano, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, piano and percussion (2002), Hua da for flute and drum (2003), Hua da II for solo drum (2003), Hua da III for flute (2003), Frappes (Hua da III) for electronics (2003), En offrant le vin for theorbo/guitar and voice (2003), Veronica for chamber orchestra (2003), Embouchure de la maggia for three dancers and 8-channel tape (2004), Wind Quintet No. 1 (2004), Wind Quintet No. 2 (2004), Situation (La vague) for female voice, cello, percussion and electronics (2004), Grappesfor percussion (2005), Interlude for solo pipa (2005), Laugh Like a Hyenafor guitar, flute and percussion (2007), Ciel demandé II for Chinese orchestra (2008), White Water for flute, pipa, erhu and one or two percussions (2009), White Water II for pipa, erhu and large orchestra (2010), Ah Q for Beijing opera voice, five percussionists, recorder/contrabass recorder, pipa, electronics and video (2011), Twister for flute, percussion and electronics (2011), Fleurs de prune tombantes for flute trio (2011), The Peach Blossom Fan for bass flute, flutist’s voice and six-channel electronics (2012).
