About

Xu Zheng is a Chinese 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. 

Over the years, Xu has actively participated in numeral musical festivals, such as 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 (Tampa, FL, 2025), Electronic Music Midwest Festival (Kansas City, KS, 2025) SHE Festival (Fayetteville, AR, 2026), and New Music on the Bayou Festival (Ruston & Monroe, LA, 2026). 

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 Dance Composition Project (2023) with choreographer Joanna Murphy, worked on the Sandbox Percussion Collaboration Project with the UMKC percussion department (2024), worked with harpist Rosanna Moore for the Poppyharp Project (2025, England), and have been commissioned by the Kansas City Sinfonietta (2025) and the New Music on the Bayou (2026) .

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 winner of the Black Bayou Composition Award (2026), the first prize in the Dr. Gerald Kemner Prize for Orchestra Composition (2024), and the Edward & Nancy Mattila Electronic Music Composition Award (2021).