On Self-Reliance and the Power of Reading

Han Chen talks with composer Vivian Fung about how she discovered her own identity through listening to music outside the Western music canon, and why she rejects the idea of being categorized as XYZ.

JUNO Award-winning composer Vivian Fung combines idiosyncratic textures and styles into large-scale works, reflecting her multicultural background. She is currently at work on a new flute concerto for the Vancouver Symphony, a piano trio for L’arc Trio, and a piece for the UK’s Tangram Collective. In July 2020, the CBC Virtual Orchestra gave the online world premiere of Fung’s “Prayer,” led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who will lead the Philadelphia Orchestra in a virtual performance of Prayer in Fall 2020.

Fung mentors composers at the American Composers Forum, San Francisco Contemporary Chamber Players, London Symphony Orchestra, and Cabrillo Festival. Born in Canada, she received her doctorate from Juilliard. Fung lives in California and is on the faculty of Santa Clara University.

Performance of Fung's “Glimpses” recorded on April 19, 2021, in New York.