Melissa Hui
composer

Canadian composer Melissa Hui was born in Hong Kong and raised in North Vancouver, BC. Initially inspired by the haunting music of the Mbuti of Central Africa, Javanese gamelan and Japanese gagaku court orchestra, she strives to create a personal music of ethereal beauty, intimate lyricism and raucous violence. Her work has been commissioned and performed throughout North America, Europe and Asia, including performances by the American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, St. Lawrence String Quartet, Esprit Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Focus Festival in New York City, Oregon Symphony, International Gaudeamus Music Week in Amsterdam, ISCM Festivals in Croatia and Switzerland, and the Hong Kong Arts Festival. The recipient of awards from the Guggenheim and Fromm Foundations, and a doctorate from Yale University, she was on the composition faculty at Stanford University for ten years before moving to Montreal. Melissa joined the Schulich School of Music at McGill University in 2010. She is a founding member of the Common Sense Composers' Collective.