Yixuan Hu was born in 1998 and began studying composition under Professor Zhao Liang at a young age. During high school, she attended the affiliated high school of Xinghai Conservatory of Music(星海音乐学院附属中学), where she studied under Associate Professor Huang Yongcai. She then pursued both her undergraduate and master's degrees at the Central Conservatory of Music(CCOM) (中央音乐学院) under the guidance of Professors Qin Wenchen (currently the Vice President of CCOM), Yang Yong, Wu Yuebei, and Associate Professor Tian Tian. In 2018-2019, she was sent to Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg(HfMT) (汉堡音乐与戏剧大学) as an exchange student. In 2023, she graduated from CCOM with a master's degree, receiving the top honor for her thesis and first place in her major. Subsequently, she was admitted to HfMT to pursue the Konzertexam, the highest degree in composition (equivalent to a doctorate), under the mentorship of Professor Elmar Lampson, the current Honorary President of HfMT.
Deeply influenced by classical Chinese culture, Yixuan Hu has long been immersed in a multicultural musical environment. She strives to express her profound understanding of Eastern sounds, which goes beyond the mere use of instruments and tones to a deeper comprehension of the core and essence of Eastern culture. Simultaneously, while receiving a Western musical education, she draws inspiration from her understanding of visual arts, literature, and classical philosophy to imagine new sonic possibilities. In addition, she explores the close connections between music and other disciplines and the diversity of musical expression. At the age of 17, she wrote, composed, and directed her Chamber Opera:The piano tuner, which was later performed at the "World Music Days" organized by the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM)(国际当代音乐协会) in Vienna. Since then, she has maintained close collaborations with various other art fields, including musical theater, dance music, and film scoring, constantly seeking new ways to understand and perceive sound in different dimensions and levels. In short, she is a highly passionate, exploratory, and active young composer.
Since she began composing at the age of 17, her work has spanned orchestral music, chamber opera, chamber music, solo pieces, film scores, theater scores, and musical theater music.
To date, she has collaborated with various artistic ensembles and individuals, including the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra (LFCO)(琉森音乐节现代管弦乐团), China National Center for the Performing Arts Orchestra(中国国家大剧院管弦乐团), Hamburg Symphony Orchestra(汉堡交响乐团), Suzhou Jinji Lake Symphony Orchestra(苏州金鸡湖交响乐团), HfMT Symphony Orchestra(汉堡音乐与戏剧学院交响乐团), National Orchestra of Central Conservatory of Music(中央音乐学院民族管弦乐团), Wuhan Conservatory of Music Oriental Youth Chinese Orchestra(武汉音乐学院东方青年民族管弦乐团), Shanghai Contemporary Ensemble(上海当代乐团), Ensemble ConTempo Beijing(北京现代室内乐团), Hainan University Orchestra(海南大学管弦乐团), Vienna Ineo Quartet(维也纳 Ineo 四重奏), and conductors such as Xu Zhong (currently the President of Shanghai Opera House 上海歌剧院), Professor Chen Lin, Associate Professor Lin Daye, Professor Tan Jun, Bar Avni, Josephine Korda, Zhu Qiyuan, Chen Tao, Cui Yuanyuan, Zhang Xujia, Yu Ji, and Liu Xiang. She has also worked with artists including Professor Hu Yu, Professor Jodi Goble, Associate Professor Lan Weiwei, Associate Professor Liu Yinxuan, Associate Professor Yang Xue, Fan Linfeng, Wang Yi, director Theresa Von Halle, soprano Victoria Erikson, Jin Yu, Pia Davila, Florian Wugk, Zhai Yifei, Zhao Mingwei, Wu Junlin, Song Ziying, Yang Zhenhan, actor Zhu Chaoyi, directors Gao Yuhuan, Zha Wenyuan, Hu Hanchi, editors Bai Hua and Zhang Chenghuang, and other prominent figures like Gao Tong, Zhang Wei, Sun Songbo, Lu Xingyu, Zhang Zhengru, Xia Han, Zuo Yihang, and Meng Yue.
She has received numerous honors and has been selected for several music festivals, including:
Selected for the Lucerne Festival Academy's 20th-anniversary special project, chosen by Wolfgang Rihm and Dieter Ammann. Under the guidance of composers unsuk chin and Dieter Ammann, her Orchestral work Icarus will be premiered in 2024 by the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra. Her Symphony:‘Prayer's song’ was shortlisted for the final round of the 6th Young Composer Project of the National Center for the Performing Arts. The Chamber Opera ‘The piano tuner’ was selected for the 2018 ISCM "World Music Days" and premiered at the BMMF & ISCM music festival. It was subsequently performed at Resonanzraum, a contemporary music hall in Hamburg, Germany, under the direction of Theresa Von Halle 、conducted by Bar Avni and performed by Symphoniker Hamburg &Symphonieorchester der HfMT Hamburg. Her Piano Concerto:'Soloist's Song' reached the finals of the Suzhou Jinji Lake International Orchestral Competition and won an Excellence Award. The Symphony:'Ning' was shortlisted for the "Yichuang" Award at the Hangzhou Contemporary Music Festival(杭州现代音乐节) of Zhejiang Conservatory of Music (浙江音乐学院)and won second place in the Vienna New Symphony Orchestra's second orchestral competition. Her Emsemble Music: ‘The Rhythm of Motherland of the Rivers’ was selected for the Olympic Torch Relay Composition Competition organized by the American agency Ammi. The Mixed chamber music:‘Song in my memory’ was shortlisted for the 11th Con Tempo Composition Competition final round. The Chinese Orchestra Symphony: Mourning Drum, Morning Bell won an Excellence Award at the 2nd Bell and Chinese Orchestra Competition of Wuhan Conservatory of Music. Her Chamber percussion piece:The starry night won the Best Performance Award at the Yanhuang Cup of China. The Accordion solo 'Beyond the sea' the finals of the 2nd "China Style" (中国风)International Accordion Composition Competition. The Children's choir piece:'Taraxacum mongolicum' was shortlisted for the 2nd "Bud Cup" Children's Choir Composition Competition. Commissioned by Quatour Diotima, her Quartet:’Gradient‘ premiered in March 2024 by the Vienna Ineo Quartet at the Quatour Diotima Academy. Furthermore, she has been a resident young composer at the 2nd Zhejiang Conservatory of Music "Yichuang" Modern Music Festival, as well as at the 1st and 2nd Sichuan Conservatory of Music "Tibetan-Qiang Journey" and "Liangshan Journey" projects. She is also a collaborating musician with Beijing Global Audio-Visual Publishing House and a resident composer with the China New Classic Orchestra.
Regarding her writings, her Mixed chamber music: ’Song in my memory‘(a Con Tempo Composition Competition award-winning work) was the officially designated review work for the first Music Criticism Competition hosted by CCOM. Articles discussing her works have been published multiple times in major Chinese music newspapers such as Music Weekly(音乐周报) and media outlets like Contemporary Music Review(当代乐评). Her works have also been published by the Central Conservatory of Music Press. In addition, she is the recipient of the 2024 Oscar and Vera Ritter Foundation Scholarship.
In addition to instrumental composition, she has maintained deep collaborations with the Beijing Dance Academy(北京舞蹈学院) and the film industry:
In 2023, she was commissioned by the 10th season of Yin Wu Ji (音舞集)to collaborate with choreographer Zhang Chenghuang on the Dance music: ‘Solar Eclipse’. She later worked with choreographers Bai Hua and Ding Lin on ‘Deep Amber’ for the 2023 China Top Dance Talents Program. In 2024, she will collaborate again with choreographer Zhang Chenghuang on the China Top Dance Talents Program project (中国顶尖舞蹈人才计划)Kalavinka: Mysterious Music of Heaven. In 2022, she was commissioned by the Beijing Dance Academy (北京舞蹈学院)to collaborate with director Zha Wenyuan on the Musical: ‘Eurydice’, which has been performed for two consecutive years at P⁴ theater Also in 2022, she was invited to compose the entire score for the film ‘The Rest Is Spring’, directed by Gao Yuhuan and starring Juanzi, Wang Zi, and Cui Jinghan. The film was produced by Heilongjiang Nonzero Image Media Co., Ltd., co-produced by the Publicity Department of the Heilongjiang Provincial Party Committee and the Publicity Department of the Harbin Municipal Party Committee, and co-produced by Kan Zhi Culture Media (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., and Harbin Institute of Technology Urban Planning and Design Research Institute Co., Ltd. The film was nominated for Best Picture at the 2023 Macau Golden Lotus International Film Festival (澳门金莲花国际电影节)and was screened at the Sochi International Film Festival in Russia. Current projects she is working on include:
A commission from Hainan University(海南大学) for a Marimba Concerto: ‘Spirit’, which will be part of the Tropical Rainforest symphonic suite, to be premiered by the Hainan University Symphony Orchestra in 2025. A solo piano album titled ‘Listening to the Sound of Breathing’, in collaboration with Beijing Global Audio-Visual Publishing Co., LTD(北京环球音像出版有限公司), currently in preparation. The album is part of the project "100 Albums of Original Chinese Piano Music" and is supervised by Professor Zhang Shuai. A Emsemble Music: ‘The Poetry from Wind and Rain’ commissioned by Professor Wu Man's studio, which is currently being published by Zhejiang Conservatory of Music Publishing House(浙江音乐学院出版社). A new chamber opera ‘The Great Buddha’(大佛) is currently in preparation, expected to premiere in Hamburg, Germany, in 2025. A new saxophone quartet ‘Bubbles’ will be premiered at the Barcelona Mixture Workshop in October 2024. A new piano suite commissioned by Lu Xingyu will be premiered at his Konzertexam (the highest piano degree graduation recital) at Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover (HMTMH).