Lecturer at Purchase College Wins a Pulitzer Prize in Music Composition

Du Yun, a lecturer in the School of the Arts at Purchase College in Harrison, New York, was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in musical composition. She was honored for operatic work about human trafficking entitled Angel’s Bone. The work was first performed in January 2016 at the Prototype Festival in New York City.

The Pulitzer Prize committee said the Angle’s Bone is a “bold operatic work that integrates vocal and instrumental elements and a wide range of styles into a harrowing allegory for human trafficking in the modern world.

Dr. Yun is a native of Shanghai, China. She began playing the piano at age four. Dr. Yun studied at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music before coming to the United States to earn a bachelor’s degree at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio. She earned a Ph.D. in music composition at Harvard University.

Below is a video of an aria from Angel’s Bone.