ABOUT

Ania Vu (née Vũ Đặng Minh Anh) is a Polish composer and pianist of Vietnamese descent whose music explores the intersections of language, time, and sounds of nature. Her method, which she calls “composing text to write music,” often involves crafting her own texts in Polish and English, which guide the sound, form, and character of her compositions.

Described by the Boston Globe as exhibiting “artful vocal writing [that] ranges from percussive whispers to glinting, pure-voiced lines,” Ania’s work has been heard across four continents and recognized by the American Opera Project, ASCAP, Copland House, Tanglewood, the Boston New Music Initiative, and the I-Park Foundation. She was the 2024 Composer-in-Residence at the Chelsea Music Festival and her music has been presented at many other festivals and conferences, including PASIC, SEAMUS, CHIMEfest, Tanglewood, the Research on Contemporary Composition Conference, ISCM's Virtual Collaboration Series, Tage Neuer Musik in Regensburg, and the Red Note New Music Festival. Since 2022, she is a member of the Polish Composers Union. Ania's music has been performed by many leading ensembles and artists, including the New Fromm players, the Grossman Ensemble, Dal Niente, the Mannes American Composers Ensemble (MACE), the Daedalus and Mivos string quartets, Sō Percussion, the TAK Ensemble, and the International Contemporary Emsemble, among others.

Ania served as the 2022-23 Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Chicago and was a 2021-23 fellow with the American Opera Project's "Composers and the Voice." She is currently a Lecturer at both the University of Chicago and Northwestern University, having previously taught at the University of Texas at Austin. Ania received her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and her B.M. in composition and theory from the Eastman School of Music.

Together with pianist Eunmi Ko, they started an initiative called The Music She Writes, a series of four virtual concerts featuring 25 works by Asian female composers. This project aims to highlight the diversity and significance of music by a very large, yet underrepresented community.

Outside of music, Ania has a deep interest in languages, and speaks fluent English, Polish, French, and Vietnamese, in addition to having studied Latin, German, and Greek. She also enjoys traveling - having visited 33 countries so far -, wandering in all kinds of museums, and ballroom dancing.

Ania is also an actively performing pianist. For more information about her piano background, performances and teaching, please scroll down to Piano.

NEWS


2024

October 2
Ania will complete her three-week Residency at Copland House from mid-December to beginning of January 2025.

April 19
Ania will be joining the faculty at Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music as Lecturer beginning of Fall 2024. She will be teaching composition lessons and a graduate-level seminar.

April 19
Release of Tik-Tak on Transition & Apotheosis with Navona Records.

April 4
Ania is thrilled to be the Chelsea Music Festival's 2024 Composer-in-Residence! Read more here.

January 3
Ania begins her appointment as a lecturer at the University of Chicago.

January 1
Two new video releases:
floating dandelions for solo marimba
small tenderness for vocal sextet and string quartet.

EVENTS


UPCOMING


All event times are in the local timezone.

2025

May 8th, 8PM
Performance of Strange Birds by Mycelium New Music at Fulton Street Collective, 1821 W Hubbard St in Chicago, IL.

Apr 26th, 7:30PM
World Premiere of a new work commissioned by the Chicago Composers Orchestra at St. James Cathedral, 65 E Huron St in Chicago, IL. Find tickets here.

2024

Nov. 8, 7PM
Performance of 2+ by Flannau Duo at Northern Illinois University New Music Ensemble and Festival in DeKalb, IL. Find tickets here.

Nov. 6, 7PM
Performance of Dragonflies by Evan Miller at Northern Illinois University New Music Ensemble and Festival in DeKalb, IL. Find tickets here.

Oct 27, 8:30PM
Performance of Dragonflies by ~Nois Saxophone Quartet at Constellation in Chicago, IL. Find tickets here.


PAST


June 28, 7PM
World Premiere of "Coś" and performance of Tik-Tak by Marisa Karchin, Catherine Boyack, Mark Dover, Max Tan, and Oliver Xu at the Chelsea Music Festival, St. Paul’s German Church, 315 W. 22nd Street, NYC. Find tickets here.

June 26, 7PM
Ania performs Dark Whims at the Chelsea Music Festival, the Czech Center, 321 E. 73rd Street, NYC.

June 24, 7PM
Performance of Here, Alive by Daniel Gutmann and Maximillian Kromer at the Chelsea Music Festival, High Line Nine, 507 West 27th St, New York, NY.

June 21, 7PM
Performance of Against Time by Ania Vu at the Chelsea Music Festival, Genesis House, 40A 10th Ave, NYC.

May 9, 7:30PM
Performance of 2+ by the Flannau Duo (Kyle Lens and Jonathan Hannau) at 2640 Space in Baltimore, Maryland.

May 26, 3:00PM
Ania premieres a new piece for solo piano by Jack Cramer at the New Music Ensemble concert in the Logan Penthouse at the University of Chicago in Chicago, IL.

April 29, 7PM
Performance of floating dandelions by Andrew Bockman at the University of Arkansas's Breedlove Auditorium in Fort Smith, AR.

March 25, 4PM
Performance of Five in One by ensembleNEWsqr at the First Congressional Church in Sarasota, FL.

March 5, 7:30
Performance of Tik-Tak for soprano, flute, clarinet, percussion, violin by the Modern Music Ensemble in Meany Hall—Katharyn Alvord Gerlich Theater at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA.

MUSIC


2023

floating dandelions for Solo Marimba

small tenderness for Vocal Sextet and String Quartet

feathered beings for Thirteen Players

khuoh-tsuh for Soprano, Percussion, and Dance


2022

In Front of a New York Hotel for Tenor and Piano

Here, Alive for Mezzo-Soprano and Piano

Strange Birds for Soprano, Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Cello, Percussion, and Piano

Through the Doors - an opera for chamber ensemble, multimedia, and electronics


2021

hushed, muted for Percussion Quartet

adrift for solo Vibraphone

2+ for Percussion, Piano and fixed media

t(h)rills for solo Viola/solo Cello and electronics


2020

Dance Variations on a Theme by J.S.Bach for Violin and Cello

Sept Vignettes for solo Double Bass


2019

I yearn, therefore I am for String Quartet

String Quartet no. 2

Tik-Tak for Soprano, Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Percussion

Dragonfliesfor Saxophone Quartet


2018

Gra dźwięków, gra słów (Soundplay, wordplay) for Female Voice, Percussion, and Piano

Five in One for Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Cello and Piano

Against Time for solo Piano


2017


Symphonic Suite for Orchestra

Fantasia for Orchestra


2016

String Quartet no. 1, four movements

2015

Dark Whims for Piano, arranged for Wind Ensemble

Mrs. and Mr. Potato Headsfor Flute and Bassoon


2014

Paroles du Chagrin for Soprano and Piano

Dark Whims for solo Piano


Earliest Works

Piano Variations [2012]

Somewhere over the Clouds for Saxophone Soprano and Piano [2012]

PIANO


Ania is also an actively performing pianist in the standard and contemporary repertoire, having received several national and international piano competition awards. She has premiered and performed her works and those of her colleagues—most recently, she performed her piano works at the Chelsea Music Festival as their 2024 Composer-in-Residence. She has also performed at the Polish Consulate in NYC, the University of Chicago, the Wolf Humanities Center at the University of Pennsylvania, Illuminate Women's Music, and the Skalny Center at the University of Rochester alongside soprano Paulina Swierczek. Ania counts Vincent Lenti, Irina Rumiancewa-Dabrowski, and her mother Hong Anh Dang as her principal teachers. She has also taken lessons and masterclasses with Amy Yang, Douglas Humpherys, Dang Thai Son, Wojciech Świtała, Thomas Rosenkranz, Andrzej Jasiński, Philippe Giusiano, and Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń.

Ania draws great satisfaction from being a music educator, teaching piano and music theory. She maintains a piano studio of students of all ages and various skill levels. At the University of Pennsylvania, she has taught an introductory course to music theory and musicianship, and an intermediate-level ear training and keyboard skills lab. In June 2015, she participated in a program where selected musicians traveled to Zimbabwe and South Africa to perform and teach high school students.

Ania Vu - Recital of her piano works
[YouTube]

Songs of Identity with soprano Paulina Swierczek
[YouTube]

Grażyna Bacewicz - Toccata from Sonata no. 2
[YouTube]

J. S. Bach - Prelude and Fugue in F Major, Book II
[YouTube]

A. Skriabin - Sonata no. 2, mov I
[YouTube]

Justin Jaramillo - ex cathedra
[SoundCloud]

Justin Jaramillo - Proud Maisie
[SoundCloud]

Flannery Cunningham - Groundwater
[YouTube]

CONTACT

For more information or inquiries about scores, commissions, performances, or taking lessons in composition, piano, or music theory/aural skills, please don’t hesitate to get in touch at ania.vu94@gmail.com.