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Recognized as the world's premier pipa virtuoso and leading ambassador of Chinese music, Wu Man is a soloist, educator and composer who gives her lute-like instrument a new role in both traditional and contemporary music. She has premiered hundreds of new works for the pipa by leading composers, while also spearheading multimedia projects to both preserve and create awareness of China's ancient musical traditions. Her projects have elevated the pipa's recognition in solo works, concertos, opera, chamber music, electronic music, jazz and in theater, film and dance. She has performed globally with major orchestras and collaborates often with the Kronos Quartet, The Knights, and is a founding member of the Silkroad Ensemble. She has appeared on nearly 50 recordings, including numerous Grammy Award-winning and -nominated albums. Born in Hangzhou, China, Man studied at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, where she is now a Visiting Professor. She is a Distinguished Professor at the Zhejiang and Xi'an Conservatories and received an honorary Doctorate of Music from the New England Conservatory in 2021. In 2023, she received a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), one of the US's most prestigious honors in folk and traditional art. In April 2025, she received the Inaugural Steven Schick Prize for Acts of Musical Imagination and Excellence from the La Jolla Symphony and Chorus, becoming its first recipient. In 2013, Ms. Wu was honored as "Instrumentalist of the Year," the first non-Western instrument player to receive the award.