musical styles of Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven, as well as the music of other composers and his teachers. The Hungarian composer Béla Bartók is one of Sheng's greatest influences. Sheng believes that his music fits within two of the ways Bartók believed folk music can be used in composition: imitating the melody in the folkloric style and writing not deliberately in the style of folk music but with its flavor. In 1996, Sheng traveled back to his home country of China after fourteen years to compose Spring Dreams, commissioned by Yo-Yo Ma. While there, he got accustomed again to the instruments used in China and Chinese musical thinking. Sheng admits that his creative process is not constant. Inspiration can come after hearing a couple of notes on the television programs, researching for his next pieces, or dreaming about the music. Honors Sheng's honors include the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship (1990), the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation Award (1990), the Rockefeller Award (1991), the MacArthur Foundation Fellowships (2001), MacDowell Colony Fellowships (1985, 1988), a Kennedy Center Award (1995), and an ASCAP Concert Music Award (2002). His orchestral composition H’un (‘Lacerations’), which premiered with the New York Chamber Symphony in 1988 and was a memorial to the Cultural Revolution in China, was awarded the first runner-up for the 1989 Pulitzer Prize. Two years later in 1991, his piece Four Movements for Piano Trio was also awarded first runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize. Works Operas The Song of Majnun (1992) The Silver River (1997) Madame Mao (2003) Dream of the Red Chamber (2016) Instrumental {| class="wikitable" |+ !Composition !Instrument !Year |- |3 Etudes |Flute |1982 |- |3 Pieces |Violin, Piano |1986 |- |H'un ['Lacerations'] |Orchestra |1988 |- |My Song |Piano |1989 |- |4 Movements |Piano Trio |1990 |- |The Stream Flows |Violin |1990 |- |Concertino |Clarinet, String Quartet |1993 |- |String Quartet No. 3 |String Quartet |1993 |- |7 Short Yadhtrib Variations |Bassoon |1994 |- |China Dreams |Orchestra |1995 |- |7 Tunes Heard in China |Cello |1995 |- |Spring Dreams |Voice, Chinese Orchestra |1997 |- |2 Poems |Chinese Orchestra |1998 |- |Flute Moon |Solo Flute, Harp, Piano, Percussion, Strings |1999 |- |Red Silk Dance |Piano, Orchestra |1999 |- |3 Songs |Pipa, Voice |1999 |- |Nanking! Nanking! |Pipa, Orchestra |2000 |- |String Quartet No. 4 'Silent Temple''' |String Quartet |2000 |- |Distant Birthday Bells|Piano |2001 |- |Tibetan Dance|Clarinet, Violin, Piano |2001 |-