ABOUT
Biography
Xinyuan Deng is a composer, pianist, sound artist, and educator from Henan, China. Her work
blends traditional Chinese aesthetics with contemporary textures, exploring memory, movement, and
stillness through layered, immersive soundscapes. She creates music that balances clarity and
mystery, inviting listeners to discover the familiar in new and unexpected ways.
Rooted in both Eastern and Western traditions, Xinyuan began piano studies at the age of five and
honed her compositional craft at the Affiliated High School of Xinghai Conservatory of Music in
Guangzhou. She holds degrees from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and Indiana
University’s Jacobs School of Music, where she is currently completing her Doctor of Music degree
under the guidance of David Dzubay, Don Freund, Aaron Travers, and Han Lash. She also pursued a
minor in Electronic Music with mentors John Gibson and Chi Wang, deepening her exploration of
sound’s vast possibilities.
Her compositional work spans acoustic, electroacoustic, data-driven performance, and multimedia
formats, showcasing a broad range of expressive possibilities. Xinyuan's music has been performed
internationally by ensembles including
Austria's PHACE Contemporary Ensemble, The Rhythm Method String Quartet, ENSEMBLE CONCEPT/21,
Zhejiang Symphony Orchestra, and Harbin Symphony Orchestra. Notable works include Huai Xu,
premiered by PHACE and featuring the sheng at the Beijing International Composition Workshop;
The Rhyme of Yu Opera, a solo piano piece inspired by Henan opera that won a prize at the
12th Yanhuang Cup; and the orchestral work Magic of Snow, featured at the Second
International
Music Competition in Harbin.
Recent milestones include her selection as a featured composer for the American Composers Orchestra
(ACO)
EarShot Readings and a Composition Fellowship at the National Orchestral Institute + Festival, where
her chamber orchestra piece BAN-NA—inspired by the landscapes and ethnic dances of
Xishuangbanna—received its world premiere. Other collaborations include Roaming Blooms with the
Zhejiang Conservatory of Music, a project exploring globalization and identity through the fusion of
Chinese and Western instruments, and Echoes of Silver Rain, performed by ENSEMBLE CONCEPT/21 at the
“New Voices in Michiana” concert series.
In electronic music, Xinyuan's work has been showcased at major festivals and venues,
including Electronic Music Midwest (EMM), SEAMUS, Click Fest at Ohio University, and the New Music
Café at Johnson University. In 2025, Xinyuan received the Morris and Sheila Hass Award in Computer
Music for her multimedia piece Whispers in Motion, which integrates kalimba, live
electronics, and dance.
As an educator, she mentors emerging composers through the Jacobs Composition Academy, fostering bold
and imaginative musical voices. Beyond composition, she draws inspiration from photography,
architecture, film, museums, cooking, and the subtle, often overlooked sonic textures of everyday
life.
Artistic Misson
As a composer, Xinyuan focuses on shaping sound as a living narrative and a vital medium to create
immersive,
multidimensional experiences. Rooted in her cultural heritage and driven by curiosity about the
interplay between tradition and innovation, she crafts textured sonic landscapes where sounds
naturally
unfold to reveal intimate stories of memory, identity, and emotion. Her music invites listeners into
reflective and resonant worlds, aiming to awaken deep empathy and forge meaningful connections.
Through this process, she illuminates the invisible threads that connect audiences across time,
culture, and memory—opening spaces where our shared humanity can be deeply felt and embraced.
中文简介
邓欣源，青年作曲家，来自中国河南。五岁起学习钢琴，高中就读于广州星海音乐学院附中，后考入中央音乐学院作曲系，获艺术学士学位。此后赴美深造，取得印第安纳大学雅各布斯音乐学院作曲硕士学位，目前在该院攻读作曲博士学位，辅修音乐理论与电子音乐。她同时担任雅各布斯作曲学院（Jacobs
Composition Academy）作曲教师，指导来自不同年龄和背景的作曲学生。
她的作品曾在多个国际舞台演出，合作团体包括奥地利PHACE当代音乐团、美国The Rhythm Method弦乐四重奏、ENSEMBLE
CONCEPT/21、浙江交响乐团与哈尔滨交响乐团等。她的室内乐《槐序》（Huai Xu）由PHACE乐团在北京国际作曲大师班首演，并荣获最佳优秀作品奖；钢琴独奏作品《豫韵》（The Rhyme of
Yu Opera）从河南豫剧中汲取灵感，重新诠释戏曲语言，获第十二届“炎黄杯”中国风格钢琴作品作曲比赛奖项；管弦乐作品《冰辰幻雪》（Magic of
Snow）入选第二届哈尔滨国际音乐比赛开幕式音乐会并首演。
2024至2025年期间，欣源入选美国作曲家管弦乐团（ACO）“EarShot”新作阅读计划，并担任2024年国家交响乐团学院+音乐节（NOI+F）作曲驻地艺术家，其室内管弦乐作品《版纳》（BAN-NA）受云南西双版纳自然风光及少数民族舞蹈启发，获得广泛好评。她与浙江音乐学院合作的中西合璧室内乐作品《花翩》（Roaming
Blooms）探讨全球化与中西方传统民歌元素，作品《银雨回声》（Echoes of Silver Rain）则于“New Voices in Michiana”音乐会由ENSEMBLE
CONCEPT/21演出。
在电子音乐创作方面，欣源的作品活跃于美国中西部电子音乐节（EMM）、美国电子声学音乐协会（SEAMUS）、俄亥俄大学Click
Fest及约翰逊大学新音乐沙龙等重要平台。她的多媒体作品《潺语》（Whispers in Motion），融合拇指琴、舞蹈与实时电子音乐，荣获2025年“莫里斯与希拉·哈斯电子音乐奖”（Morris
and Sheila Hass Award in Computer Music）。
除了音乐创作，邓欣源亦从自然实地录音、建筑空间、博物馆、美术与摄影等跨领域体验中汲取灵感。这些个人探索丰富了她的声音语言，也赋予她的作品独特的情感质地与文化深度。
Gallery
Events
September 21, 2025 (Upcoming)
Performance: Echoes of Silver Rain, for flute, violin, cello, and marimba
Performed by TEMPO Ensemble at the CSUN Fall Season Concert
California State University, Northridge, CA
June 23 – July 26, 2025
Teaching: Jacobs Composition Academy Summer Intensive
Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
April 4, 2025
Award: Morris and Sheila Hass Award in Computer Music
Awarded by the Jacobs School of Music Composition Department
For Whispers in Motion, a multimedia work for kalimba, dancer, and live electronics
exploring motion, memory, and gesture
March 28, 2025
Performance: Where Paths Meet?, quadraphonic fixed media
Featured at Organized Sound: A Curated Listening Experience, Midwest Asian Pacific Islander
Desi-American Student Union (MAASU) Spring Conference
Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
March 28, 2025
Performance: Echoes of Silver Rain, for flute, violin, cello, and marimba
Performed by ENSEMBLE CONCEPT/21 at New Music in Michiana concert series
South Bend, IN
March 27, 2025
Doctoral Composition Recital
Presented seven original works composed during doctoral studies, performed by 17 musicians
Auer Hall, Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
March 25, 2025
Reading: Mirage Bazaar, for orchestra
Selected for American Composers Orchestra EarShot Readings
Performed by Jacobs Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Jeffery Meyer
Inspired by the Chinese scroll painting Along the River During the Qingming Festival
(《清明上河图》)
Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
December 8, 2024
Premiere: Where Paths Meet?, quadraphonic fixed media
CECM Concert, Auer Hall
Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
September 21, 2024
Performance: 触 (CHU), for Wacom tablet, Kyma, and live electronics
Click Fest
Ohio University, Athens, OH
August 30, 2024
Performance: Phantom of Yu, for iPad and live electronics
Featured in New Music Café Series
Johnston University, NC
July 12, 2024
Award: Irving & Leno Lo Scholarship Fund (2024–25)
Awarded by the Office of International Services
Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
June 28, 2024
Premiere: BAN-NA, for chamber orchestra
National Orchestral Institute + Festival (NOI+F)
Inspired by Xishuangbanna’s landscapes and ethnic dances
The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, University of Maryland
College Park, MD
May 16, 2024
Premiere: Roaming Blossoms (花翩), for erhu, guqin, viola, and cello
Performed by students at Zhejiang Conservatory of Music
Standard Concert Hall, Hangzhou, China
May 14, 2024
Guest Lecture: Electronic Music Composition
Zhejiang Conservatory of Music
Hangzhou, China
May 13–18, 2024
Residency: East & West Project
Zhejiang Conservatory of Music
Hangzhou, China
April 21, 2024
Premiere: Whispers in Motion, for kalimba, dancer, and live electronics
Performed by Xinyuan Deng and Lila Hodgin
CECM Concert, Auer Hall
Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
March 18, 2024
Screening: Dreamland, fixed media with video
Featured in Soundscapes of Inner Peace concert
Presented by SEAMUS at NYU Bobst Library
New York, NY
March 2, 2024
Performance: Dreamland, fixed media
Electronic Music Midwest Festival (EMM)
Philip Lynch Theatre, Lewis University, Romeoville, IL
February 2, 2024
Selection: Magic of Snow, for orchestra
Winner of Society of Composers, Inc. (SCI) 2023–2024 Winter Super-Regional Student Mixtape
December 4, 2023
Premiere: 触 (CHU), for Wacom tablet and four-channel live electronics
CECM Concert, Auer Hall
Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
October 21, 2023
Performance: Imprints from the Forest, for clarinet and guitar
Selected for International Clarinet Association New Music Weekend
Online presentation
August 17, 2023
Premiere: Notturno, for string quartet
Performed by The Rhythm Method
Lake George Music Festival
Lake George, NY
June 16, 2023
Conducting: Summer recital with New Music Ensemble
Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
May 2, 2023
Premiere: Phantom of Yu, for iPad and live electronics
CECM Concert Series
Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
April 3, 2023
Premiere: The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls, for mezzo-soprano and harp
New Art Songs for Voice and Harp Concert
Morgenstern Bookstore, Bloomington, IN
March 23, 2023
Premiere: Autumn Landscape, for solo piano
Student Composition & Piano Recital
Auer Hall, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
February 21, 2023
Choral Conducting: Fall recital, Miniatures of the Choral Art
Conducted Salve Regina by Francis Poulenc
Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
Works
Large Ensemble
Chamber Orchestra
Commissioned by National Orchestra Institute + Festival (NOI+F) as composition fellow
06/28/2024: New Directions Concert of National Orchestra Institute Festival
The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, College Park, MD, USA
Third prize of the 1st Hangzhou Contemporary Music Festival “Art Creation
Awards” International Orchestral Composition
orch. (3, 3, 3, 3 - 4, 3, 3, 1, - timp+4, harp - strings)
09/27/2020: Zhejiang Symphony Orchestra
The 1st Hangzhou Contemporary Music Festival “Art Creation Awards” International
Orchestral Composition Competition
Zhou Ying Concert Hall, Hangzhou, China
Honors award of the composition section at the Second 2019 Harbin International Music
Competition
orch. (2, 2, 2, 2 - 4, 3, 3, 1, - timp+3, harp, piano - strings)
08/31/2019: Harbin Symphony Orchestra. The finals for Concert of Composition, the Second Harbin
International Music Competition, Harbin Concert Hall (Harbin, China)
Chamber
Flute, Violin, Cello and Marimba
03/28/2025: Featured in New Music in Michiana concert series and performed by ENSEMBLE CONCEPT/21
(South Bend, IN, USA)
03/27/2025: Xinyuan Deng’s doctoral composition recital, Auer Hall (Bloomington, IN, USA)
Erhu, Guqin, Viola and Cello
Commissioned for East & West Project
05/16/2024: Zhejiang Conservatory of Music, Standard Concert Hall (Hangzhou, China)
String Quartet
Commissioned by The Rhythm Method Quartet for Lake George Music Festival as composition
fellow
08/17/2023: World premiere in Lake George Music Festival (Lake George, NY, USA)
Clarinet, Cello and Vibraphone
03/27/2025: Xinyuan Deng’s doctoral composition recital, Auer Hall (Bloomington, IN, USA)
String Quartet
04/21/2022: Xinyuan Deng’s Master Graduate Recital, Auer Hall (Bloomington, IN, USA)
11/11/2021: Composition Recital, Auer Hall (Bloomington, IN, USA)
Clarinet and Guitar
10/21/2023: Showcased at International Clarinet Association (ICA) New Music Weekend conference
concert event
04/21/2022: Xinyuan Deng’s Master Graduate Recital, Auer Hall (Bloomington, IN, USA)
11/03/2021: Chamber Music Recital - Jankovic Guitar Studio, Ford-Crawford Hall (Bloomington, IN,
USA)
10/26/2021: Student Composition Recital, Auer Hall (Bloomington, IN, USA)
Honor Prize of Beijing International Composition Workshop Concert
Chinese and Western Mixed Chamber Ensemble (Flute, Clarinet, Sheng, Vibraphone, Triangle, Violin
and Cello)
07/21/2018: Contemporary Music Ensemble PHACE (Vienna, Austria), Beijing International Composition
Workshop, Opera Concert Hall of the Central Conservatory of Music (Beijing, China)
Flute, Piano, Violin and Cello
10/07/2018: Composition Recital, Concert Hall of the Central Conservatory of Music (Beijing, China)
Moonlights (2017) | 7’
Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Viola, Cello and Percussion
05/23/2017: Chamber Music Concert, Concert Hall of the Central Conservatory of Music (Beijing, China)
Memory of Gears (2016) | 7’
Cello and Piano
06/05/2016: Composition Recital, Concert Hall of the Central Conservatory of Music (Beijing, China)
Solo
Solo Piano
03/27/2025: Xinyuan Deng’s Doctoral Composition Recital, Auer Hall (Bloomington, IN, USA)
03/23/2023: Interdepartmental Composition/Piano Recital, Auer Hall (Bloomington, IN, USA)
Solo Horn
05/16/2023: New Art New Music - An SCA collaboration with the Grunwald Gallery of Art. State of
Nature: Picturing Indiana Biodiversity, featured exhibition (Bloomington, IN, USA)
The Silhouette of Yu Opera (2020) | 7’
Solo Violin
Third prize of the 12th “Yanhuang Cup” 2018 Competition for Chinese Style Piano
Works (Beijing, China)
Solo Piano
12/07/2018: Opera Concert Hall of the Central Conservatory of Music (Beijing, China)
Magic Fire (2015) | 8’
Solo Piano
09/21/2015: Beijing Youth Music Festival (Beijing, China)
Vocal
Soprano and Piano
03/27/2025: Featured in Xinyuan Deng’s doctoral composition recital, performed by Isabella Mahanna
(soprano) and Xinyuan Deng (piano)
Soprano and Harp
3/27/2025: Featured in Xinyuan Deng’s doctoral composition recital, performed by Madelyn Deininger
(mezzo-soprano) and Theresa Labuda (harp)
04/03/2023: Performed by Elizaveta Agladze (mezzo-soprano) and Leland Conrad (harp) at the New Art
Songs for Voice and Harp Concert, Morgenstern’s Bookstore (Bloomington, IN, USA)
Soprano and Piano
04/21/2022: Xinyuan Deng’s Master Graduate Recital, Auer Hall (Bloomington, IN, USA)
The Joy of Snowflakes (2014) | 6’
Soprano and Piano
06/24/2014: Graduation Concert of Xinghai Conservatory of Music Affiliated Secondary School of Music
(Guangzhou, China)
Electronic
Four-channel fixed media
03/28/2025: Featured at Organized Sound: A Curated Listening Experience, Midwest Asian Pacific
Islander Desi-American Student Union (MAASU) Spring Conference (Bloomington, IN, USA)
12/08/2024: Premiered at CECM (Center for Electronic & Computer Music) Fall Concert, Auer Hall
(Bloomington, IN, USA)
Kalimba, Dancer, and Stereo Live Electronics
03/27/2025: Featured in Xinyuan Deng’s Doctoral Composition Recital at Auer Hall, Jacobs School of
Music (Bloomington, IN, USA)
04/21/2024: Performed by Xinyuan Deng (kalimba and live electronics) and Lila Hodgin (dancer) at the
CECM Spring Concert (Bloomington, IN, USA)
Wacom Tablet, Live Electronics, Four-Channel
09/21/2024: Performed by Xinyuan Deng at Click Fest, Ohio University (Athens, OH, USA)
12/03/2023: Performed by Xinyuan Deng (Wacom tablet, live electronics) at the CECM Fall
Concert (Bloomington, IN, USA)
Data-driven Performance for iPad and Live Electronics
05/02/2023: Performed by Xinyuan Deng at the Electronic Music Projects Concert (Bloomington, IN, USA)
Data-driven Performance for iPhone and Live Electronics
03/28/2023: Electronic Music Project Concert Presentation (Bloomington, IN, USA)
Fixed Media with Video
03/18/2024: Premiered at the SEAMUS National Conference “Soundscapes of Inner Peace” concert
Bobst Library, New York University (New York, NY, USA)
Fixed Media
03/02/2024: Electronic Music Midwest Festival (EMM), Philip Lynch Theatre, Lewis University,
Romeoville, IL
12/14/2021: Electronic Music Final Project Concert (Bloomington, IN, USA)
Multimedia collaboration featuring vibraphone, glockenspiel, electronics, and animation
04/21/2022: Featured in Xinyuan Deng’s Master Graduate Recital, Auer Hall (Bloomington, IN,
USA)
08/21/2021: Featured at The FEAT Art Exhibition, Shanghai Artist Studio (Shanghai, China)
Fixed Media
10/29/2021: Electronic Music Project Concert Presentation (Bloomington, IN, USA)
Contact
Please reach me at emilyxinyuandeng@gmail.com if you have any questions, comments, or
commission / performance requests. Thank you!
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