About

Yongyun Zhang, Percussion

Yongyun Zhang has a dedicated interest in performing and premiering the works of living composers, especially pieces incorporating the spoken voice. She considers the role of Chinese language in modern percussion repertoire through her commissions, as well as through adaptations and translations of existing works.

Her ongoing collaborations include new pieces with composers Yifan Guo, Luís Salguiero, Erin Graham, Feiyang Xu, and Rachel C. Walker. She is the recipient of a residency at the Britten-Pears Foundation and a grant from the New Music USA Creator Development Fund. She has given recent lectures and performances across China (Guangzhou Opera House, Shandong University, Central Conservatory), the US (Women Composers Festival of Hartford, Chosen Vale, a solo performance during PASIC New Music/Research Presents: Music for Percussion and Voice, a concert with the Harry Partch instruments in Seattle, a performance with red fish blue fish at the La Jolla Music Society, solo and concerto performances during the 2022 Transplanted Roots Percussion Research Symposium, et al), and Europe (soundSCAPE 2020; solo concerts at Akademie Schloß Solitude).

Yongyun studied with the members of Percussion Group Cincinnati at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (BM), where she received First Prize in the Baur Competition, the top performance distinction awarded across all instrumental performance majors. She graduated with her MM from the University of Washington School of Music with Bonnie Whiting, and is pursuing a DMA with Steven Schick at the University of California San Diego. She is a member of the red fish blue fish percussion ensemble.