Ziyi Tao
3rd Prize
Ziyi Tao (2002), not yet a composer, and hopes to become more than a composer. Fascinated by languages and the process of making sense of things, he is currently working on elementary French and hopes to learn Turkish, if not in this life, definitely the next. Ziyi has also been self-learning German for the past two years, now working on the 39th paragraph of the Preface to Hegel’s Phenomenology of the Spirit, which he hopes to finish within the next five years. Ziyi is under the mentorship of Robert Beaser at Juilliard, and has also been inspired by many other composers, including Jon Deak, Molly Herron, Shedrick Mitchell, Max Grafe, and Reiko Füting. Ziyi has been fortunate to have his works performed by a number of prominent artists and ensembles, including pianist Peter Dugan, the Julius Quartet, the Hypercube Ensemble, the New York Philharmonic, and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic.