Tan Dun recently won a well-deserved
Oscar for the musical
score of
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which featured
Yo Yo Ma on cello solos and nicely matched the directing style's east-west blend. However, as a
composer, Tan Dun's been making a mark for quite a while now. For example, the
Kronos Quartet toured with and recorded his
Ghost Opera; he was also given the
Grawemeyer Award for his opera
Marco Polo.
Tan Dun grew up planting rice in
China and now lives in downtown
Manhattan. He holds degrees from both
Beijing's Central Academy and
Columbia University.
For more info, see http://www.tandun.com/