Born in Taiwan, and raised in Virgina, composer and pianist Yiheng Yvonne Wu graduated from Yale with a composition degree and began teaching piano and writing music. After moving to San Diego, she attended UCSD and studied with faculty composer Katharina Rosenberger.

She was still a doctoral student at UCSD when La Jolla Symphony conductor and UC San Diego faculty member Steven Schick awarded Wu the orchestra’s annual Nee Commission. Her resulting orchestral work Transcriptions of Place was premiered by the La Jolla Symphony in March 2013.