YIXIE SHEN - COMPOSER
Yixie Shen (b. 1993, CHN) is a composer based in Hamburg, Germany.
She is the recipient of the Gaudeamus Award. Further prizes include Theater Kiel’s Hafenstädte – Tore zur Welt competition, Zwei Orgeln Plus by Musik 21 Niedersachsen, and the Alexander International Music Award by the Junge Norddeutsche Philharmonie.
Her music have been presented by orchestras and ensembles across Germany, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Austria, South Africa, China, and the United States. Performances include those by State Opera Hamburg, Symphoniker Hamburg, Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, and ensembles such as Ensemble Ascolta, Ensemble KNM Berlin, Ensemble L’ART POUR L’ART, Ensemble LUX:NM, Ensemble Resonanz, IEMA Ensemble, New European Ensemble, collective lovemusic, Trio Catch and Yarn/Wire.
Her works have been featured at major venues and festivals, among them the Elbphilharmonie, the State Opera Hamburg (stabile), the Gaudeamus Festival, Klangspuren Schwaz, Heinrich Schütz Music Festival, Musik 21 Festival, and blurred edges. Broadcasts of her works have been aired by ARD (Germany), ORF (Austria), NPO (Netherlands), and additional international broadcasters.
Her musical path began under the guidance of her father, a passionate pianist and devoted music educator who laid the foundation for her artistic development. She received a Bachelor's degree in Composition under the mentorship of Prof. He Xuntian. In 2018, she moved to Germany to study with Prof. Fredrik Schwenk at the University of Music and Theatre Hamburg, where she completed both her Master’s degree and Konzertexamen with distinction.
Artistic Statement
Yixie Shen perceives music as a generative form of consciousness - a morphogenetic way of thinking. In a contemporary society shaped by production and efficiency, her practice turns toward another logic, rooted in the organic relations among becoming, perception, and awareness. Inspired by nature’s self-organizing order, her music traces an ecology of listening. For her, composition unfolds as constant listening and negotiation among imagination, material, and time. She holds open the interfaces of tension, letting their fragile balances be heard and felt.
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