A composer born in 1963 in Nankin (China).
Xu Yi studied the erhu (the Chinese violin) and composition at the Shanghai Conservatory. At the age of 22 she was appointed teacher in this same conservatory. She arrived in France in 1988 and followed the composition and computer music course of Ircam (1990-91). She completed her training at the Paris Conservatory with Ivo Malec and Gérard Grisey, whose spectral influence can be heard notably in Da Gui (1999), a work dedicated to his memory. In 1994 she won a First Prize for composition.
The first Chinese composer to be in residence at the Villa Medici (1996-98), she was appointed composition teacher at Cergy-Pontoise Conservatory (2001-2003), then special guest teacher at the Shanghai Conservatory (2004-2010). She currently lives in France and is guest teacher for the Wuhan Conservatory.
She has received commissions from the French State, Radio France, many festivals and ensembles in France, China, England, Switzerland, Italy, the USA, and her works are played all over the world.
Her music is a skilful blend of East and West (Huntun, 1994; Le plein du vide, 1997, a work chosen for the baccalaureate exam in 2006 and 2007; 1+1=3, 2004; Qing, 2009; Zhiyin, 2010; Aquilone lontano, 2017), new technologies (amplified instruments, spatialisation) and traditional instruments (Crue d'automne, 1999; Tempête sur l'Asie, 2001; Guo Feng, 2007; Résonance végétale 2017 ), poetic expressivity and linguistic formalism (Le roi des arbres, 1993, spoken opera; Dialogue d'amour, 2000; Joie du ciel, 2012; Wu Zeitan, Impératrice entre ciel et terre, 2013; Chant des muses, 2015).
