Jason Zhang
I'm a passionate from Michigan
Learn more about me
Freelance Composer & Software Engineer @ Autodesk
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 a MTNA National Composition Award,
a Fromm Foundation Composition Fellowship, the 2025 Carlos Surinach BMI Composer Award, and have had my work featured on Score Follower.
I have the opportunity to work with professional ensembles such as Hub New Music, Hypercube, TEMPO Ensemble, Bergamot Quartet, Attacca Quartet, Nova Linea Musica Trio, 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'm currently working on pieces for the Unheard-Of Ensemble and the Akropolis Quintet.
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 May 2026.
CV
Upcoming and past events
Swasey Chapel, Denison University, Columbus, Ohio
Attacca Quartet playing as part of VAIL series Tickets
McIntosh Hall,University of Michigan
New piece for 2 violas, harpsichord, and fixed media for Emmanuel's Master Recital
The CheckOut, Chicago IL
New piece for the NLM Piano Trio Tickets
My Projects
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.
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.
Coauthored a paper with Irmak Bukey and TJ Tsai detailing an alignment algorithm that is designed to handle a wide range of boundary conditions.
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.
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.
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.
My Works
Projects
Contact Me
zhangjt[at]umich[dot]edu
