About

Learn more about me

Composer - Pianist - Programmer

Composer & incoming software engineering @ Autodesk

  • Website: https://zhangjt1.github.io/
  • School: University of Michigan
  • Email: zhangjt[at]umich[dot]edu
  • Degree: BM in Composition
    BSE in Computer Science

I'm a recent graduate from the University of Michigan, where I studied Composition and Computer Science. My mentors in composition were Bright Sheng, Micheal Daugherty, Roshanne Etezady and Evan Chambers. I have studied piano with Matthew Bengtson and chamber music with Matt Albert.

On the computer science side, I'm interested in machine learning, particulary various transformer architectures and their potential applications to generative music. I'm also dipping my toes into signal processing. I have a published paper at ISMIR 2023 you can check out here.

On the music side, I'm currently working on incorporating more improvisation and electronics like live-processing (Max, Hydra, Javascript p5) into my music as well as becoming more familiar with synthesising sound and producing. I've been awarded the 2020 MTNA Senior Composition Award, and the 2025 Carlos Surinach BMI Composer Award. I have the opportunity to work with professional ensembles such as Hub New Music, TEMPO Ensemble, Bergamot Quartet and Loadbang. I've also written for amazing musicians such as Natalia Kazaryan, and Gabriel Cabezas. During my time at the Univerity of Michigan I was able to work with Jayce Ogren with the Contemporary Directions Ensemble, and Mike Roest with the University Philharmonia Orchestra. I write mostly classical concert music, though I am branching out, and eager to do more in film and video games.

Check out some articles I've written for the Michigan Daily!

Lasted updated June 2025.

Coding Languages

Python 85%
C++ 75%
C 70%
SQL 65%
Java60%
JavaScript 60%

Other Interests

Hiking

Gardening

Journalism

Crosswords

Traditional Chinese Flutes

Guitar

Violin

Dogs

Resume

Check out My Resume

Education

GPA: 3.99

Bachelor's of Music in Composition

2020 - 2025

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

Teachers & Mentors

  • Bright Sheng
  • Michael Daugherty
  • Evan Chambers
  • Roshanne Etezady
  • Matthew Bengtson
  • Matt Albert
  • Michael Haithcock
  • Jason Fettig

Bachelor's of Science in Engineering in Computer Science

2020 - 2025

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

Relevant Coursework

  • Large Language Models
  • Computer Vision
  • Machine Learning
  • Web Development
  • Computer Organization
  • Data Structures and Algorithms
  • Linear Algebra
  • Calculus I-III
  • Probability and Statistics
  • XR Development
  • Datamining

Professional Experience

University of Michigan

2023- 2024

Instructors Aide for Introduction to Machine Learning

  • Created rubrics, homework, exams, and projects, and provided feedback and comments for over 320 students
  • Led discussion section, presented slides that clarified content from lecture, and solved example problems
  • Debugged student's Python code, offered advice and insights and encouraged collaboration during office hours

Autodesk

2023 - 2024

Software Engineering Intern

  • Determined how to add profile pictures and device data to API response by documenting a solution and providing architecture diagrams, identifying necessary credentials, organizing customer needs, and planning API contract and infrastructure changes, serving over 10 teams within Autodesk
  • Implemented solution in Python, integrating it as an AWS Lambda function and changing AWS CloudFormation templates, applying parallel computing to keep latency under 29 seconds while improving functionality

Caterpillar

2022 - 2022

Stepping Stone Advertising, New York, NY

  • Updated and maintained RESTful APIs using Java SpringBoot, Docker, and PostgreSQL and deployed onto AWS, fixing 2 bugs and adding a new endpoint feature
  • Wrote black-box unit, integration, and smoke tests in JUnit, discovering 2 critical design errors within an API
  • Teamed up with cybersecurity to write firewall policies on 8 public-facing AWS load balancers, protecting APIs from SQL injection and cross-site scripting attacks

Projects / Recordings

My Projects

Counterpoint Checker

Currently deprecated, a website that aimed to automatically grade counterpoint, an 18th century practice that is still used to teach harmony to music students today.

Press Play

Aided Carol Reiley in producing and curating a concert that combined classical music with AI and robots. Created a video that utilized ControlNet and AnimateDiff to apply AI filters to videos of people dancing.

FlexDTW

Coauthored a paper with Irmak Bukey and TJ Tsai detailing an alignment algorithm that is designed to handle a wide range of boundary conditions.


Michigan Recording Project

Professionally recorded "Arcana" by Rudolf Escher as part of the Michigan Recording Project, a project aimed at establishing an archive of worthy but overlooked piano repetoire.

\newline Quartet

Founded a new music quartet comprised of a unique combination of saxophone, bassoon, piano, and percussion. Commissioned 9 new works for the medium to date.

Symphony Band

Played keyboard in Symphony Band under the baton of Robert Reynolds, Michael Haithcock, and Jason Fettig. Premiered many pieces and arrangements including those by Larry Tuttle, Michael Daugherty, Evan Hause, James Lee III and Jeremy Kittel.

Portfolio

My Works

  • All
  • Solo
  • Small Ensemble
  • Large Ensemble

The Venice of My Mind

for Chamber Orchestra

my body breaks, so I go to find replacements

for guitar and voice

Between You and the Surface

for flute, clarinet, violin, and cello

[De]structure

for saxophone, bassoon, piano, and percussion

cute-speak

for solo piano and tape

Suspicious Certainty

for saxophone quartet

Dollar Bidder Now!

for percussion quartet

Bmpromptu

for solo bassoon

memento

for cello and piano

like Clockwork, perpetuum

for string quartet

Be Not Afraid

for orchestra

MUSIC FOR KIDS

for chamber ensemble and electronics

Computer Science Projects

Projects

P1 - VR Cheating Simulator


Built using Unreal Engine (5.4.2), and planned using Jira. Interactive logic built using blueprints. Assets from freesound, Quixel, and sketchfab.

P2 - Ann Arbor Pokemon Go


Built using Unity Engine (2022.3.50f1), and planned using Jira. Interactive logic built using Unity C#. Assets from freesound, Unity Asset Store, and sketchfab.

P3 - Melody Grove


Built using Unity Engine (2022.3.50f1), sounds composed in Logic Pro X, and planned using Jira. Interactive logic built using Unity C#. Assets from freesound, Unity Asset Store, and sketchfab. Interactive AR spatial audio playground. Check out our website!

Hand Synth


Built using Max, FAUST, and Google's MediaPipe hand tracking.

Contact

Contact Me

Email Me

zhangjt[at]umich[dot]edu

Social Profiles