Yangfan Xu (b. 1998) holds a deep passion and love for cats. Whenever she hears a string player glissando in the upper registers, she can’t help but think of a cat's meow. In addition to her feline obsession, Xu is a Chinese-born US-based composer who comes from a musical family in Lanzhou, Gansu province, with a spoiled cat who eats better than everyone else.

 

Xu is a distinguished composer recognized for her innovative works and multiple prestigious awards. She is the winner of the 2023 Boston New Music Initiative Commission Competition, the 2021 Society for New Music's Israel/Pellman Award, and the 1st Prize of the 2020 Hausmann Quartet Quarantine Composition Competition. In 2021, she won the New Juilliard Ensemble Composition Competition, and her commissioned work "Fantastic Creatures of the Mountains and Seas" premiered at Lincoln Center with the New Juilliard Ensemble in 2022. Xu has been a Grammy voting member since 2024.
 

Xu has received significant commissions from the Impulse New Music Festival, Boston New Music Initiative, saxophonist Kenneth Radnofsky, and the New York Choreographic Institute affiliated with the New York City Ballet. Her music has been enjoyed by audiences worldwide and performed by renowned ensembles such as the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Contemporary Orchestra, New England Philharmonic, New Juilliard Ensemble, Friction Quartet, Hausmann Quartet, Kroma Quartet, SFCM New Music Ensemble, Choral Chameleon, Keyed Kontraptions, and Ravel Virtual Studios. 

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Xu studied musicology at the high school affiliated with the Central Conservatory of Music in China. She received her bachelor’s degree in composition from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, studying with Mason Bates, and her master’s degree in composition from the Juilliard School, under Robert Beaser. She is currently pursuing a DMA at the New England Conservatory of Music, studying with Kati Agócs.