Meet the Founders
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, CO-FOUNDER
YIMING WU
Yiming Wu is a Chinese-American composer, educator, founder of Mayflower Art Center. He graduated from the Composition Department of the Central Conservatory of Music, China, where he studied composing with Professor Zhenmin Xu, Changjun Xu and Liqiang Dong. He has also studied composing with Professor Michael Hersch who is the Director of Composition Department and Rome Prize winner, at Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University conservatory.
Yiming 's original concert music has been performed worldwide by notable orchestras such as the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Belgium Royal Wind Orchestra, Beijing Symphony Orchestra, etc.
In 2006, he was the first Chinese to participate in the three-pipe symphony and won the third prize of Takemistsu Composition Award in Japan at the age of 23. In 2008, he won second place in the third Harelbeke International Composition Competition in Belgium. In 2010, He was the recipient of the BMW Musica Viva Composition Prize in Germany.
In 2017, Yiming founded the May Flower Art Center (MFAC) in Maryland. His students are located in the United States, Canada, China, Australia, UK, Singapore, Switzerland and other places.
For years, Yiming's students have won numerous awards in top youth composition competitions., such as, BMI Composer Award, The ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, National Youth Orchestra- USA (Apprentice Composer）, Young Arts National Competition, The American Prize , National Young Composers Challenge, Luna Composition Lab, National Federation of Music Clubs, MTNA national Composition etc. Many of his students have been admitted to Stanford University, Yale University, Princeton University, Brown University, Duke University, the University of Chicago, Johns Hopkins University, Vanderbilt University, The Juilliard School, the Eastman School of Music, and the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, among others.
MUSIC DIRECTOR, CO-FOUNDER
DR. YU-TING CHENG
Hailed for her “extraordinary virtuosity” (CHIMEI Arts Award), as well as for her “sublime playing” and “radiant tone” (Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Corigliano), Yu-Ting is an artist of uncommon musical versatility.
She represents a new generation of classically-trained musicians who seamlessly blend virtuosic technique with artistic innovation and cultural engagement. Whether performing Corigliano’s clarinet concerto, premiering new works, or mentoring aspiring musicians, Dr. Cheng embodies the versatility and excellence that define today’s most compelling classical artists. She has earned recognition as a solo artist by winning numerous top prizes in her career, including the 32nd Chimei Arts Award, the American Prize National Competitions in Instrumental Performance and the Ernst Bacon Award of American Music.
Yu-Ting frequently performs across the US, Europe and Asia. Her recent highlights include Webern Symphony and Boulez Polyphonie X with Lucerne Contemporary Orchestra at Berlin Philharmonie and Lucerne Culture and Congress Centre, World premieres for chamber orchestra with Orchestra of St. Luke's with Maestro Tito Muñoz, The Chinese Now Music Festival Concert at Alice Tully Hall, Schubert Die Verschworenen with Maestro Phillip Nuzzo and Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra at Wien Musikverein, Corigliano Clarinet Concerto with Maestro Michael Morgan and Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra broadcasted by Troy Public Radio, Butterfly Lovers Clarinet Concerto (World premiere) with BCO, off-Broadway opera "Watch Night”, album “Unseen” by composer Michael Torke.
A native of Taipei, Taiwan, Yu-Ting received two master’s degrees from Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University and Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with Steven E. Barta and David Krakauer. She also holds a doctoral degree from Stony Brook University under the guidance of Alan R. Kay.
Yu-Ting serves as Principal Clarinet of the Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra. She is currently the Music Director of the MusicON Festival.