is a composer and performer living in Berlin. She is music director and composer of OBLIVIA, an experimental music theatre company based in Helsinki. She studied in Beijing, Stuttgart, Basel, and also Linz where she was also a lecturer (2020–21). Currently, she teaches Post-Digital Composition at the High School of Music and Dance in Cologne.
Her works often revolve around the central question of how sound is generated and perceived in space. By incorporating sound as well as bodily movement, light, electronic devices, and other media into the compositional process, she treats sound as a material that is tangible, visible, perceptible, and controllable. Within a minimal and restrained palette, she explores the permutative and juxtapositional potentials of her materials in depth, exercising precise control over subtle transformations, temporal flow, and the listener’s attention. Zhao’s compositions range from contemporary instrumental and electronic music to experimental operas and music theatre.
Her work has been presented in cooperation with numerous artistic groups and festivals throughout Europe, Asia, North and South America. She has been the recipient of multiple artist residencies, fellowships, stipends, grants, and awards. Zhao’s portrait CD from Wergo – Edition Zeitgenössische Musik was released in 2022, a coproduction between the Deutscher Musikrat and Deutschlandfunk Kultur, with a portrait release concert at the Ultraschall Festival in Berlin. Her scores are published by Verlag Neue Musik.
Selected works (from 2015): Ohne Stille II for bass drum und lights (2014–15), Confrontation for two trombones (2015), SHH II, sound installation (2015), Waking Dream for Ensemble Phoenix Basel (2015), TOUCH II for ensemble (2015–16), Fluctuation Ia for Ensemble Recherche (2015–16), OBSERVABLES for performers, video, and light (2016), Pluri- for dance, video and sound (2016–17), Fluctuation II for large ensemble (2016–17), Kōng for ensemble and video (2018), 90 DEGREES for performer, video and voice (2018), Oder Ekel kommt vor Essenz for voice and orchestra (2017–18), behind the apples for six vocalists (2018), The Single Day, multimedia music theatre (2019), Verdrängen Verdrängen Verdrängen, music theatre (2019–20), The Parallel Day for ensemble (2019–20), CHATROOM, digital music theatre (2020), the feverish nostalgia of the water children, music theatre / opera (2021–22), Silver for six performers (2022), Obsessions version, music theatre / opera (2020-22), Pleasures, music theatre (2022–23), fú yóu for six vocalists (2023), fictional nonfiction I for large ensemble, electronics and video (2023), negative space B for e-guitar quartet (2023), gòng míng for percussion, clarinet, e-guitar, cello, piano and electronics (2023), Turn Turtle Turn, music theatre / opera (2023–24), enrichment items for percussion (2024), fictional nonfiction II for large ensemble and electronics (2024), litheness for four vocalists and four musicians (2024), the unreachable shore for large ensemble (2024), conversation for flute (2025), negative space C for large ensemble (2025), Reality Bang, music theatre (2025), yáo yè #1–8, installations and performances for light and sound (2017–26), Dreaming Turtles, music theatre (2025–26), resonant flux for organ (2026), labyrinth I for ensemble (2026), field manifestation, spatial audio performance with ensemble and binaural audio soundscapes (2026).