Life and Work of Tan Dun - Essay Example

During the 1980’s Tan moved to New York City and enrolled in Cambridge University where he was educated in both classical and contemporary composition and music. From here Tan realized that he could take and combine all these musical influences and produce his own unique sense of style and form.

Tan’s creative and broad works have left an everlasting mark on the world of music, distinctly reflecting his own concepts, ideas, and individuality. Tan takes both western and eastern music and combines it with natural elements like paper, water, and wood producing a rich style of unique and exceptional composition. Some of Tan’s earlier and notable works are the Ghost Opera featuring a string quartet in 1994, Marco Polo an opera composed in 1995, and Symphony 1977: Heaven, Earth, Mankind an orchestra played in 1997 with Bian Zhong bells (“Tan Dun”). One of his most famous and praiseworthy works is the masterpiece for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon for which he deservedly received an Oscar Award as the best original score.

In 2003, Tan brought the world of western music to the rural villagers of Hunan in his performance of The Map. That same year he also premiered the Paper Concerto at the opening of Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles (“Tan Dun”). Tan was even commissioned by Youtube and Google for his first Internet Symphony being heard by over 15 million people worldwide (“Tan Dun”). His spectacular and moving works have been played by many renowned orchestras and recorded by such companies as Deutsche Grammophon, Sony Classical, EMI, and Opus Arte (“Tan Dun”). Receiving numerous nominations and awards like the Grawemeyer Award for classical composition and Musical America's Composer of The Year, there is little doubt that Tan Dun is one of the most unique and riveting composers of our time.