Tan Dun - Definition and Overview

Tan Dun (譚盾 born August 18, 1957) is the Grammy award winning composer for the soundtrack of the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Tan Dun was born in Simao, China. For most of his childhood and teenage years, he worked at a rice paddy.

For the 1997 reunification of China and Hong Kong, he was commissioned to write Symphony 1997: Heaven Earth Mankind, for cello soloist Yo-Yo Ma, recently unearthed ancient bianzhong bells, children's choir and orchestra.

In 2000 Dun, along with Sofia Gubaidulina, Osvaldo Golijov, and Wolfgang Rihm, was commissioned by the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart project to write a piece for the Passion 2000 project in commemoration of Johann Sebastian Bach. His contribution was the Water Passion After St. Matthew.

In 1996 he was selected by the Glenn Gould Foundation as the recipient of the 1996 City of Toronto - Glenn Gould International Protégé Prize in Music.