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.

Pianist Conor Hanick performs from the Hudson Valley.

Composer Vivian Fung created this Spotify playlist, including Violin Concerto from our studio album, Dreamscapes, performed by violinist Kristin Lee.

SANDBOX PERCUSSION PERFORMS WORKS BY CHRISTOPHER CERRONE, VIET CUONG, AND JULIA WOLFE, AS PART OF CERRONE’S REITERATIONS SERIES WITH METROPOLIS ENSEMBLE, MODERATED BY A CONVERSATION WITH POET G.C. WALDREP AND FEATURING VOCALIST ELSPETH DAVIS

February 24, 2019

A playlist by Vivian Fung

It may seem surprising to hear that Vivian Fung, born and raised in Edmonton, has built an international reputation as a classical music composer that has led her to a commissioned orchestral work for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, as a way of introducing its 2015 season in September. But there it is. Fung knows no bounds, nor does her compositional groove.

A playlist by Vivian Fung

This is a curated playlist by Chris Cerrone, featuring original music and inspired works from the next generation of composers and performers.

The Phillips Collection
May 25, 2014

Le Poisson Rouge
April 27, 2014

Le Poisson Rouge
April 6–7, 2014

Dreamscapes is magnificent with virtuosic performances… a spectacular sounding disc… by one of today’s most eclectic composers.

The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) announced today that Edmonton-born composer Vivian Fung’s Violin Concerto is the winner of the 2013 Juno Award for “Classical Composition of the Year.”

The two concertos were recorded at Tanglewood’s Seiji Ozawa Hall by Charlie Post and Tim Martyn with a “you-are-there” feeling.

The opening Violin Concerto is a good introduction to Fung, offering an immediate vista of her understated but brilliant orchestration and her technically demanding but musically riveting writing for the violin.

This, easily, one of the most unusual piano concertos you will ever hear but, I think, the strongest work in this collection and completely fascinating. The fact that she is, clearly, a very creative and skilled composer is all I need to recommend this without hesitation.