(photos by Kevin Ng)
Born in Hunan, China, Daixuan Ai’s music combines tradition with modernism and connects Eastern and Western cultures. She is a composer, pianist, and teacher who is dedicated to learning and understanding the musical legacy from the past and opening her ears and heart to absorbing and creating music of today’s world. Her compositions are well-crafted, formally precise, deeply thoughtful, and she often finds ways to honor her cultural heritage in them. Currently a doctoral composition student at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Daixuan has studied with a number of well-known composers and her music has been performed by many prestigious ensembles including CityMusic Cleveland, Hub New Music, and 5th House Ensemble.
As a composer, Daixuan has earned her bachelor’s degree in composition from Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory where she studied composition with Clint Needham. In 2017, Daixuan was selected as a BW Summer Scholar participant, and she spent 10 weeks researching the cultures and music of a Chinese minority ethnic group that is strongly connected to her family called “Xiangxi Tujia and Miao.” She also studied instrumentation and orchestration closely with Needham, and composed a 15-min orchestra piece “My Father’s Tale” which was performed by BW Symphonic Orchestra under the baton of Soo Han. Her project was recognized in a BW Success Story article. In 2020, Daixuan was selected to write a chamber orchestra piece for the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, and her work Three Xiangxi Folk Songs, which borrowed famous tunes from Xiangxi culture and combined them with western musical forms and composition techniques, was premiered in October 2021. Daixuan also worked closely with faculty members at BW. Her trumpet solo piece “Horse” was recorded by the Cleveland Orchestra trumpeter Jack Sutte, who later commissioned her to write “Sonata for Trumpet And Piano,” which will be premiered and recorded for Sutte’s “Sonata Palooza” recital series and CD. Daixuan was also an apprentice in Brendan Caldwell’s conducting studio. She premiered and conducted her “Octet for Winds” with members of the BW Symphonic Wind Ensemble. In December 2021, Caldwell performed “The Moon” with BW SWE, which is a movement from Daixuan’s newest wind ensemble piece “Planetarium Tetralogy.” The entire work is set to be premiered by Caldwell and BW SWE during 2022-23 school year.
Daixuan attended the European American Musical Alliance Summer Institute in Paris, France in 2019. Through the program, she studied composition with David Conte, and took classes on harmony, counterpoint, and analysis. Daixuan felt a deep connection to the program’s teaching philosophy that “musicians are best trained through serious craft” and felt inspired by their training which is a continuation of famous French pedagogue Nadia Boulanger’s vision and methods. She continued taking classes from EAMA Summer Institute and Academy and studying directly with the program founder Philip Lasser. In spring 2022, she worked as an assistant teacher for a counterpoint class at the Academy. Through the program, Daixuan continuously practices and fine-tunes her crafts at western music harmony and counterpoint writing, and she finds creative ways of incorporating her musical skills developed at EAMA into composing, performing, and teaching.
In May 2022, Daixuan received her master’s degree in composition from Indiana University Bloomington. There, she studied composition with David Dzubay, Don Freund, and Katherine Balch. Her music was performed by students and visiting artists including pianist Jihye Chang on multiple recitals and concerts. In 2022, Daixuan set 4 poems from “Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude” by New York Times best-selling collection of essays poet Ross Gay, and they were performed by bass vocalist Andrew Forsythe on his lecture recital where Daixuan performed on the piano and gave a presentation on her compositional process of art songs. In fall 2022, Daixuan will continue her composition study at IU as a doctoral student, and she will be working closely with composer Han Lash and the electronic music department.
Daixuan was selected as a composition fellow at the Aspen Music Festival in 2022. During the month of June to August, she will be studying at the festival with Grammy-Ward winning composers Christopher Theofanidis and Stephen Hartke. Her premieres there include: chamber ensemble piece “Childhood Memories” by the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, orchestra piece “The Moon” by the Aspen Conductor’s Orchestra, and a set of art songs on poems from collection “Good Bones” by American poet Maggie Smith performed by Julia Holoman.
As a pianist, Daixuan started classical piano training at 5 and attended Wuhan Conservatory of Music for piano performance at the age of 10. During her undergraduate studies, she studied piano performance with Sungeun Kim, performed on solo and chamber recitals, and appeared frequently as soloists for school events. She has performed in master classes with artists include Nikita Mndoyants, Spencer Myer, the Cleveland Orchestra keyboardist Joela Jones, and the Anderson & Roe Duo. Daixuan is also an experienced large ensemble pianist: she served as keyboardist for Baldwin Wallace Symphonic Orchestra and Symphonic Wind Ensemble under the baton of Tiffany Chang, Soo Han, and Brandon Caldwell. She performed a number of classical and contemporary repertoires including Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite, Mihaud’s La création du mond, and a premiere with the 9 Horses Ensemble. During her master’s program, she completed a piano minor degree with Emile Naoumoff and worked with Anne Epperson for piano accompanying.
As a teacher, Daixuan is currently working as an assistant instructor coordinator for IU Music Theory department where she teaches undergraduate aural and written theory. She is also a faculty member of the Jacobs Composition Academy and enjoys working with middle and high school composers through the program. She taught piano classes at BW summer camps, and worked as theory tutor for BW conservatory. Daixuan’s earliest teaching experience can be traced back to teaching classes on American cultures at Zhuzhou Foreign Language School in China when she was only 15. She has been described by her students as kind, clear, dedicated, and can explain complex concepts in simple ways. Her teaching philosophy is that cultivating curiosity and enjoyment is as important as developing discipline and techniques for students of any age, and understanding and empathy always encourage change more than judgement and criticism.
(updated June 2022)
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500 Words:
Born in Hunan, China, Daixuan Ai’s music combines tradition with modernism and connects Eastern and Western cultures. She is a composer, pianist, and teacher who is dedicated to learning and understanding the musical legacy from the past and opening her ears and heart to absorbing and creating music of today’s world. Her compositions are well-crafted, formally precise, and deeply thoughtful. Currently a doctoral composition student at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Daixuan’s music has been performed by many prestigious ensembles including Cleveland Chamber Symphony, CityMusic Cleveland, Hub New Music, and 5th House Ensemble.
As a composer, Daixuan has earned her bachelor’s degree in composition from Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory where she studied composition with Clint Needham. In 2017, Daixuan was selected as a BW Summer Scholar participant. She researched the cultures and music of a Chinese minority ethnic group that is strongly connected to her family called “Xiangxi Tujia and Miao,” and composed a 15-min orchestra piece “My Father’s Tale” which was performed by BW Symphonic Orchestra. Daixuan also worked closely with faculty members at BW. She was commissioned by Cleveland Orchestra trumpeter Jack Sutte to write “Sonata for Trumpet And Piano” for his recital and CD. Daixuan premiered and conducted her “Octet for Winds” with BW Symphonic Wind Ensemble under the guidance of conductor Brendan Caldwell. Caldwell and BW SWE will premiere Daixuan’s newest wind ensemble piece “Planetarium Tetralogy” during 2022-23 school year.
Daixuan attended the European American Musical Alliance Summer Institute in Paris, France in 2019. through the program, she studied composition with David Conte, and took classes on harmony, counterpoint, and analysis. She continued taking classes from EAMA and studying directly with the program founder Philip Lasser. in spring 2022, she worked as an assistant teacher for a counterpoint class at the Academy.
In May 2022, Daixuan received her master’s degree in composition from Indiana University. There, she studied with David Dzubay, Don Freund, and Katherine Balch. Her art songs setting poems by New York Times best-selling collection of essays poet Ross Gay were performed by bass vocalist Andrew Forsythe.
Daixuan was selected as a composition fellow at the Aspen Music Festival in 2022. During the month of June to August, she will be studying at the festival with Christopher Theofanidis and Stephen Hartke. Her premieres there include a piece Contemporary Ensemble, a reading with Aspen Conductor’s Orchestra, and art songs on poems by Maggie Smith.
As a pianist, Daixuan attended Wuhan Conservatory for piano performance at the age of 10. She studied piano performance with Sungeun Kim during undergraduate degree and Emile Naoumoff at IU. Daixuan has also served served as keyboardist for BW Symphonic Orchestra and Symphonic Wind Ensemble.
As a teacher, Daixuan is working as an assistant instructor coordinator for IU Music Theory department. She is also a faculty member of the Jacobs Composition Academy. She believes that cultivating curiosity and enjoyment is as important as developing discipline and techniques and understanding and empathy encourage change more than judgement and criticism.
(updated June 2022)
250 Words:
Born in Hunan, China, Daixuan Ai’s music combines tradition with modernism and connects Eastern and Western cultures. She is a composer, pianist, and teacher who is dedicated to learning and understanding the musical legacy from the past and opening her ears and heart to absorbing and creating music of today’s world. Her compositions are well-crafted, formally precise, and deeply thoughtful. Daixuan’s music has been performed by many prestigious ensembles and performers including Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Baldwin Wallace Symphonic Orchestra, BW Symphonic Wind Ensemble, CityMusic Cleveland, Hub New Music, 5th House Ensemble, Cleveland Orchestra Trumpeter Jack Sutte, and piano Jihye Chang. She has studied with composers including David Dzubay, Katherine Balch, Don Freund, and Clint Needham, and pianists such as Sungeun Kim and Emile Naoumoff.
Daixuan received her bachelor’s degree in composition from Baldwin Wallace Conservatory and master’s degree from Indiana University. She will continue her study at IU as a doctoral student in fall 2022. She is an assistant instructor coordinator for IU’s music theory department and faculty for Jacobs Composition Academy.
In 2022, Daixuan was selected as a composition fellow at the Aspen Music Festival in 2022. During this 2-month program, she will be studying with Christopher Theofanidis and Stephen Hartke. Her premieres there include a piece Contemporary Ensemble, a reading with Aspen Conductor’s Orchestra, and art songs on poems by Maggie Smith.
Daixuan received training on counterpoint, harmony, score reading and music analysis from the European American Musical Alliance where she studied with Philip Lasser, Benjamin Boyle, and Mark Shapiro.
(updated June 2022)
150 Words:
Born in Hunan, China, Daixuan Ai’s music combines tradition with modernism and connects Eastern and Western cultures. She is a composer, pianist, and teacher who is dedicated to learning and understanding the musical legacy from the past and opening her ears and heart to absorbing and creating music of today’s world. Her compositions are well-crafted, formally precise, and deeply thoughtful. Daixuan’s music has been performed by ensembles and performers including Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Baldwin Wallace Symphonic Orchestra & Symphonic Wind Ensemble, CityMusic Cleveland, Hub New Music, 5th House Ensemble, and Cleveland Orchestra Trumpeter Jack Sutte. Her teachers include David Dzubay, Katherine Balch, Don Freund, Clint Needham, Philip Lasser, and Emile Naoumoff.
Daixuan received her bachelor’s degree in composition from Baldwin Wallace Conservatory and master’s degree from Indiana University. She is an assistant instructor coordinator for IU’s music theory department and faculty for Jacobs Composition Academy. Daixuan is also a 2022 composition fellow at Aspen Music Festival.
(updated June 2022)
80 Words:
Born in Hunan, China, Daixuan Ai is a composer, pianist, and teacher. Her compositions are well-crafted, formally precise, deeply thoughtful, and often inspired by both Eastern and Western cultures. Her music has been performed by ensembles and performers including Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Baldwin Wallace Symphonic Orchestra & Symphonic Wind Ensemble, CityMusic Cleveland, Hub New Music, 5th House Ensemble, and Cleveland Orchestra Trumpeter Jack Sutte. She is currently a doctoral student and music theory instructor at Indiana University.
(updated June 2022)
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(updated June 2022)
(photos by Kevin Ng)