Ziyi Tao
Ziyi Tao (2002) is fascinated by concepts and the process of making sense of things, he strives to write more than just music. Currently under the mentorship of Andrew Norman, Ziyi has also been inspired by and worked with many other composers, including Beat Furrer, Marco Momi, Mark Andre, Dmitri Kourliandski, Francesco Filidei, Jon Deak, Max Grafe, and Reiko Füting. Ziyi is interested in the connection between Ideas and their concrete manifestation and realization through music. Ziyi is fortunate to have worked with, and have had his works performed by prominent artists and ensembles, including pianist and composer Conrad Tao, pianist Peter Dugan, the Arxis Ensemble, the mdi Ensemble, FontanaMIX Ensemble, the Moscow Contemporary Ensemble, the Kenari Quartet, the Isosceles Trio, the Julius Quartet, the Hypercube Ensemble, the Juilliard Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Pacific Chamber Orchestra, and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic. Ziyi’s works have also been conducted by outstanding conductors, including Thomas Wilkins, Jeffrey Milarsky, Beat Furrer, and Fedor Lednev.
Ziyi has received numerous scholarships and awards, including the 2023 “Pablo Sorozabal” International String Quartet Composition Competition, 2023 ASCAP Morton Gould Award, 2022 Juilliard School Gena Raps String Quartet Prize, the XVI Open Composers Competition Named After Andrey Petrov, “ Share of Hope”, the Jack Kent Cooke Young Artists Award 2021, the NAfME Student Composers Competition 2021, and the 44th DownBeat Student Music Award, among others.
As a conductor, Ziyi is committed to both championing new music, as well as thoughtful interpretations of older works that reinscribe their urgency and necessity in today’s contexts. Ziyi aims at an integrated, fully embodied, and total experience of art-making that questions and refreshes what it means to make art, as this process is itself a reflection of our own engagement with our world, our history, and each other.