DAI WEI is originally from China. Her musical journey navigates in the spaces between East and West, classical and pop, electronic and acoustic, innovation and tradition. Her music often challenges the practice of labeling and delves into the untold narratives of social issues and obscured historical events from various communities, creating works with contemporary resonance and reflecting an introspection on how these multidimensional conflicts and tensions can create and inhabit worlds of their own. Being an experimental vocalist, she performs in the manner of Khoomei throat singing in her compositions, filtered through different experiences and backgrounds as a calling that transcends genres, races, and labels.
Described as “impassioned” by The New York Times, “with a striking humanity” by The Washington Post, and "incredibly creative and dynamic" by the Utah Symphony Orchestra, she was featured in The Washington Post’s “22 for 22’: Composers and Performers to Watch this year.” Dai Wei was awarded the CANOA Commission (Composing a New Orchestra Audience) from the American Composer Orchestra Underwood New Music Reading. Her piece for chamber orchestra, multi-channel voices, and electronics, Invisible Portals, co-commissioned by American Composers Orchestra, Michigan Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, premiered at Carnegie Hall in March 2022, conducted by Marin Alsop.
Recent highlights include Through the Paper Gate and Through the Narrow Gate, written for Kronos Quartet and pipa virtuoso Wu Man and featured in Three Bones, a large-scale multimedia triptych that premiered at Carnegie Hall; and two works commissioned by the Albany Symphony. Dai Wei served as the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s 2024–25 Sound Investment Composer, culminating in the premiere of The Golden Wok for narrator, vocalist, chamber orchestra, and electronics.
Her music has been commissioned and performed by ensembles including Minnesota Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Utah Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Reno Philharmonic, Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier, the Philharmonia Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Curtis Symphony Orchestra, Bang on a Can, Alarm Will Sound, and Aizuri String Quartet. Her music has been broadcast by WRTI, Performance Today, WHYY, Shanghai Dragon Television, Radio Television Hong Kong, and Qinghai Television.
Dai Wei is currently Visiting Assistant Professor of Music at Whitman College. She received her PhD in Music Composition from Princeton University and an Artist Diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music, following earlier studies in composition at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the Xinghai Conservatory of Music in China.