Daixuan Ai

   Born in Hunan, China, Daixuan Ai’s music combines tradition with modernism and connects Eastern and Western cultures. She is a composer, pianist, and teacher who is dedicated to learning and understanding the musical legacy from the past and opening her ears and heart to absorbing and creating music of today’s world. Her compositions are well-crafted, formally precise, and deeply thoughtful.  Daixuan’s music has been performed by many prestigious ensembles and performers including Chicago Civic Orchestra, Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Indiana University Symphony Orchestra, Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, CityMusic Cleveland, Hub New Music, 5th House Ensemble, Cleveland Orchestra Trumpeter Jack Sutte, and pianist Jihye Chang.  She has studied with composers including Han Lash, Katherine Balch, David Dzubay, Don Freund, and Clint Needham, and pianists such as Sungeun Kim and Emile Naoumoff.

          Daixuan received her bachelor’s degree in composition from Baldwin Wallace Conservatory and master’s degree from Indiana University.  Currently, she is a doctoral candidate in composition at IU while serving as lecturer for undergraduate music theory class and faculty for Jacobs Composition Academy.   In 2022, Daixuan was selected as a composition fellow at the Aspen Music Festival. During this 2-month program, she studied with Christopher Theofanidis, Stephen Hartke, and Donald Crockett. Daixuan received training on counterpoint, harmony, score reading and music analysis from the European American Musical Alliance where she studied with Philip Lasser, Benjamin Boyle, and Mark Shapiro.   She recently joined EAMA's faculty group and will be teaching intro to keyboard harmony.