Bun-Ching Lam Photo by Veiga Jardim, courtesy of Shuman Associates Inc.

Bun-Ching Lam's residency will coincide with a series of performances celebrating the music of Asia and featuring the world premiere performance of Ms. Lam's "Song of P'ip'a" for P'ip'a and Orchestra. The P'ip'a, an ancient Chinese lute of the Wei dynasty (386-534), will be played on this occasion by Chinese P'ip'a virtuoso, Wu Man. Song of P'ip'a was commissioned by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra with support from the AT&T Foundation.

Ms. Lam, born in the Macao region of China, received a B.A. in piano performance from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and a Ph.D. from the University of California at San Diego, where she studied composition with such composers as Bernard Rands and Pauline Oliveros. She is the recipient of numerous prizes and fellowships, including the Rome Prize, the Aspen Music Festival Prize, and first prize at the Shanghai Music Competition, China's first international composers' competition. Ms. Lam's compositions have been performed at music festivals around the world, including Bang on a Can (New York), New Music America (Los Angeles), Tokyo Summer Festival, Pacific Sounding (Japan), ISCM World Music Days (Hong Kong), and the 24 Heures Communication (Belgium). She is currently composing an opera entitled "Weng," supported by the International Collaborative Project of Meet The Composer, which will be premiered at the Hong Kong Arts Festival and, later, at The Kitchen in 2000.