Composer, with a number of music works have been performed widely around the U.S., Europe and Asia.

Lu Pei's music is "extremely smart, colorful, and kinetic..."
---Washington Post

" The players seemed to enjoy performing Lu Pei's music as much as the audience enjoyed taking it in..."
---Kalamazoo Gazette


Lu Pei earned his doctorate in 2002 from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he studied with W. Albright, W. Bolcom, and Bright Sheng, among others. He gained his Master of Music degree from the University of Louisville in 1995. Lu used to be in the faculty at the University of Louisville; Since 2006, he has been a Professor of music at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Now he is also the guest professor at Nanjing Normal University and an Honorary Professor of the Guangxi Institute of Arts.

Lu Pei has composed for diverse genres and groups including orchestra, chamber ensemble, chorus, and for dance drama, television, theater, and motion pictures. Some of his awards include the Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute, the Jerome Composers Commission Program; American Composers Forum; The Margaret Fairbank Jory Copying Assistance Program of the American Music Center; the Michael Hennagin Memorial Composition Prize. In 1997, Mr. Lu was awarded the Silver Medal in the 1997 Composition Competition in Beijing, for his Symphony No. 3. In the same year, he also won First Prize in the Sixth International Composition Competition in New York City by the Music from China Ensemble. Among the prizes Lu Pei has won are the Yue Fei International Composition Competition in Chicago (2000), for his sonata for violin and piano, Manjianghong: Legend of an Ancient Hero. The sonata had its premiere in the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Arts, performed by the renowned violinist Rachel Barton Pine and pianist Matthew Hagle. He won the Taiwan Golden Horse Award for Music in 1991. Lu Pei received an award from the Japan International Animated Cartoon Festival for his the sound track for The Fire, in 1988.

Lu is an active composer, and his music has been performed by Minnesota Orchestra, Chicago Grant Park Orchestra, Norfolk Music Consort, Oshkosh Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Chinese Orchestra, among others; his music has appeared at some very important venues in the U.S. During the period of June 26 to July 7, 2002, one of his latest commissioned pieces, Ballad Variation No.1, was performed in Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Project concert series in Washington D.C. at the 36th Annual Smithsonsian Folklife Festival; during the days of October 25 to 27, 2002; this piece was once again performed at the Silk Road Project concerts at the Chicago Orchestral Center. Lu Pei's compositions have been performed at the Fullerton Hall of the Art Institute of Chicago, Merkin Concert Hall of New York City, Green Lake Music Festival of Wisconsin, Minnesota Symphony Hall, Chicago Orchestral Center, Chicago Grant Park Music Festival at Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, as well as in Taiwan National Music Hall, and in Canada, Singapore, and other countries. Lu Pei's composition Xiang He Ge (?Song of Consonance?), was recorded by The Traditional CrossingRoad Music, in New York City, as a commercial CD, which was released in June 2003. In 2005, Xiang He Ge was included on another CD, entitled ?Influence?, published by New Dynamic Records and released by Southeastern Indiana University.

Lu Pei has completed commissions to compose music for Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Project, for institutions and ensembles such as the Chicago Institute of Arts, the Grant Park Orchestra of Chicago, Norfolk Music Consort of Virginia, the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh, the Oshkosh Symphony Orchestra of Wisconsin, Amelia Piano Trio, Western Kentucky University, as well as the San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Chicago Symphony, and for institutions in Mainland-China, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong; Mr. Lu's music has been performed in France, Belgium, Canada, Mainland China, The Netherlands, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, British, South Africa, Italy, as well as in the U.S.

As a China-born composer, I employ Chinese music elements for my music; however, as a Chinese-American composer, I try my best to learn American folk and popular music and try to associate them with my created work. For me, to compose music and to communicate with people is what I have always been happy to do. I hope my music can be accepted to as many people as possible; that is the reason I am writing my music in a more accessible way to my audience, no matter if he/she has music training or not, than what I did before.

(A selected list. Works (the ones with mark * have been performed)

Rhapsody No.4: Golden Ox (2009)
--For the Year of Ox
--For Orchestra
3222 4231 timp /2perc. Hp Pf Str.
(Duration: approx. 16')

Overture--for Eight Violas(2009)
(Duration: 8')

In April, the Sunshine Days(2009)*
--For Women chior

Requiem of China(2008-9)
Dedicated to Chinese in the 5.12 (2008) Earthquake
The First Epic?FMissing in the Light of Cadle
--For Mixed Chorus, Orchestra and Motioned Images
3222 SATB 2Trp/3Trb/Tuba Timp 2perc. Pf. Ele keyboard erhu strings
(Duration: approx. 21')

Rhapsody No.3: Flying Tiger(2008)*
--for the Year of Tiger
-- For Orchestra
3222 4331 Tp. 3 Perc. Hp. Pf. Str.
(Duration: approx. 19'35")

Mountain Dream: Songs of Spring*
--Songs Through the Time Tunnel No. 2 (2007)
-- For Soprano and a Chamber Music Group
(Duration: 19'36")

Mountain Dream--Songs Through the Time Tunnel No. 1 (2007)*
-- For Mezzo Soprano and Four Percussionists
(Duration: 37')

Fantasy on Themes from The Phantom of the Opera (2007)*
-- For Violin and Orchestra
(Duration: 17')

Two Tangos from China (2007)*
-- For Violin and Piano
(Duration: 9'30")

Toccata-Shi Mian Mai Fu (Ancient Battlefield) (2007)*
-- For Solo Violin
(Duration: 9'25")

Poems of Tang Dynasty (2007)
-- For Soprano, Pipa, Erhu, Oboe, and Piano Trio
(Duration: 15')

Xian Tan Shanghai (2006)
--For Traditional Chinese Orchestra
( Duration: 18')

Sunset Flute Drum(2005)
--For A Cappella
(Duration: 9')

Colors of Gamelan(2005)*
--For Chinese Orehstra
(Duration: 12'23")

Ballad of the Great Wall (2005)*
--For Piano Trio
(Duration: 24')

Inner Vision(2005)*
-- A Concerto for Pipa and Chinese Orchestra
(Duration: 40'17')

Xin Jiang Dance of China-On the Silk Road(2005)*
-- For Flute and Piano
(Duration: approx 12')

Birds and the Phoenix (2005)*
(Duration: approx. 12')
-- A Quartet for Erhu, Pipa, Clarinet and Bass-Clarinet

Ya Yue(2005)*
(Duration: 12'11")
(For Pipa and Chamber Orchestra)


Scenes Through The Window (2004)*
(Duration: Approx.17')
(For Pipa, Erhu, and Piano Trio)

Wu Tian (2004)*
(Duration: approx.36')
(For double String Orchestra, Celesta, Harp and Percussion, in three movements)

Xiang He Ge ("Song of Consonance") (2003)
(Duration: approx.16')
(Orchestral version)

Rhapsody No.1: Dance of the Dragon (2002) *
(Duration: approx. 17')--for the Year of Dragon
-- For Orchestra
3333 4331 Tp. 3Perc. Hp. Pf. Str.
Please listen to the sound recording:
http://www.soundclick.com/util/DownloadSong.cfm?ID=2669251

String Quartet No.3--In Memoriam(2002)*
(Duration: 31')

Four Fantasies for Solo Violin--No.1: Sunset Bamboo Flute Drum (1999)*
(Duration: 10')
Please listen to the sound recording:
http://www.soundclick.com/util/downloadsong.cfm?id=2659019

Ballad Variation (2001)*
(Duration: 13'12')
-- Duet for Pipa and Erhu
Please listen to the sound recording:
http://www.soundclick.com/util/DownloadSong.cfm?ID=2671147

Impressions on Silk and Bamboo (1998) *
(Duration: 9')
-- For Chinese Chamber Ensemble
Please listen to the sound recording:
http://www.soundclick.com/util/DownloadSong.cfm?ID=2671243

Symphony No. 4 (2000)*
(duration: 16'27")
-- 3333 4331 Timp, 3 Perc. Str.
Please listen to the sound recording:
http://www.soundclick.com/util/DownloadSong.cfm?ID=2673327

Xiang He Ge(Song of Consonance) (2001) *
(duration: 16'15")
-- For Pipa, Erhu, Vl, Vc & Pno
Please listen to the sound recording:
http://www.soundclick.com/util/DownloadSong.cfm?ID=2669424

Rhapsody No.2: Dance of the
Strings (2003)--for the Year of Rooster*
(Duration: approx. 12')
-- For Two String Orchestras, Celesta,
Harp, Timpani and 2 Percussions

Yue Er Gao ("The Lofted Moon")--for Erhu, Pipa,
Violin and Piano, Ballad Variation No.4 (2001)*
(Duration: 14"26')


The Styles--for Pipa and Violoncello, Ballad
Variation No.3 (2001)*
(Duration: 18')

Autumn Moon Over the Han Palace, Ballad
Variation No.2 (2001) *
(Duration: 8')
--For Chamber Group