About

Xu Zheng is a freelance composer currently based in Kansas City. Her music weaves flowing narratives that delve into the inner depths of the subconscious. Known for its picturesque character and evocative storytelling, her work often unfolds like vivid sonic landscapes —traversing life, identity, and emotion with sensitivity and poetic imagination. Through immersive musical gestures and richly textured detail, Xu invites listeners into an introspective world. Xu also draws on her cross-cultural background to blend Eastern and Western musical traditions, reimagining their boundaries through a modern lens. Through both acoustic and electronic mediums, including music programming in Max/MSP, Xu creates a wide range of sonic landscapes. Alongside composition, she enjoys playing piano and guqin. 

Xu has engaged in various collaborations with individual artists and ensembles. Notable projects include serving as Composer-in-Residence for the UMKC Fellowship String Quartet (2022), participating in the Bartók Reimagination Project (2023) with pianist Xinyi Lu, the (Comp)laborations Project (2023) with baritone Evan J. Nelson and percussionist Martin Mendez, and a Dance Composition Project (2023) with choreographer Joanna Murphy, worked on the Sandbox Percussion Collaboration Project with the UMKC percussion department (2024), and commissioned by the Kansas City Sinfonietta (2025).

Over the years, Xu has actively participated in musical festivals, such as Berkley Summer Jazz Camp (Shanghai, 2016), Collevoxus Exchange (Denton, TX, 2020), Composers Hub in LunART Festival (Madison, WI, 2022), Composing in the Wilderness (Denali, AK, 2023), S.E.M ensemble (New York, 2025), CAMPGround25 (Tampo, FL, 2025), and EMM (Kansas City, KS).

Xu holds degrees from the University of Missouri-Kansas City (M.M., 2024), where she studied with Chen Yi, Zhou Long, Paul Rudy, and Yotam Haber, and from the University of Kansas (B.M., 2021), where she studied with Ingrid Stolzel, Bryan Kip Haaheim, and Forrest Pierce.  

Xu’s accolades include the first prize in the Dr. Gerald Kemner Prize for Orchestra Composition (2024), the UMKC Women's Council Graduate Assistance Fund: Chi Omega Alumni Association Award of Excellence and the Carolyn Fuller and Nancy Iovinelli Award - Presidents & Past Presidents General Assembly-KC (2023), and the Edward & Nancy Mattila Electronic Music Composition Award (2021).