Panzhen Wu

Panzhen (Panpan) Wu is a Chinese composer, audio engineer, songwriter, music director, violinist, and vocalist. Her eclectic composition style spans orchestral works, chamber ensembles, music with cultural elements, as well as ambient, pop, rock, electronic, and experimental genres. She is passionate about collaborating on various visual media, particularly narrative fiction, animation, documentaries, and creative projects with moving stories and unique aesthetics that provoke deep reflection. Recent film highlights have included Safari (Collaboration with NYU Journalism Institute), Sansei.

As a music director for theater, dance, and multimedia projects, Panpan collaborates with multicultural and multidisciplinary artists, focusing on all musical components, including theme songs and transitional pieces. She is renowned for integrating historically and culturally significant music into contemporary contexts, blending organic melodies with synthesizer tones to evoke a dynamic sense of temporal transformation and achieve a transgressive artistic effect. Recent theatrical works have included President’s Invitation, Metamorphosis.

Currently, Panpan is pursuing an M.M. in Screen Scoring at New York University, mentored by award-winning musicians Mandy Hoffman, Greg Pliska, and Alba S. Torremocha. She holds a B.A. in Music with a Composition Emphasis and a B.S. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Rochester, where she studied with acclaimed musicians Mark Watters, Robert LaVaque, and Stephen Roessner. Additionally, she has engaged in intensive studies in philosophy, music cognition, audio technology, and film studies.