Born in Taoyuan, Taiwan, in 1983, composer Chien-Yu Huang draws on diverse Eastern and Western influences to shape an invigorating musical language marked by vivid sonorities. His music spans concert works, film, and theater, and has been performed by soloists and ensembles worldwide, earning him numerous accolades.

Huang has received recognition in numerous national and international composition competitions and calls for works, including two gold prizes in composition at the World Classical Music Awards (2026); selection for Vox Novus’s Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame: 15 One-Minute Arias for Soprano Solo (2024); selection for the Juventas New Music Ensemble’s Call for Works Featuring Flute (2024); special prize (special mention) in the ISAC International Popular Music Composition Competition (2023); selection for the Taipei Symphony Orchestra’s Call for Mandarin-Language Opera Works (2020); grand prize in the Physician’s Chamber Orchestra of Taiwan’s Call for Scores for the 30th Anniversary Concert (2020); selection in both the Elementary and Intermediate Categories of the National Taiwan Arts Education Center’s Call for Scores for Taiwanese Local Music Teaching Materials: String Orchestra Works (2011); selection in the Nantou County Government’s Sun Moon Lake Songwriting Contest (2011); winner of the Taipei Symphony Orchestra’s 40th Anniversary Call for Orchestral Works (2009); regional winner, Region I, in the SCI/ASCAP Student Commission Competition (2008); winner of ERM Media’s Masterworks of the New Era Competition (2008); recipient of the Award of Excellence from the Tsang-Houei Hsu Cultural and Art Foundation’s Competition for the Selection and Performance of Outstanding Works by Young Composers (2005); honorable mention in Taiwan’s Ministry of Education Literature and Arts Awards (2005); and finalist in the Council for Cultural Affairs’ Formosa Composition Competition, Chamber Music Category (2004).

In film scoring, Huang received an Honorable Mention in The Indie Gathering International Film Scoring Competition (2010), and his work was selected as one of the top 30 scores in CINE’s Film Scoring Competition for Emerging Composers (2014). His score for animation director Po-Chou Chi’s short film The Lighthouse won Best Original Score at the Los Angeles New Wave International Film Festival (2011) and received Best Original Score nominations from the Maverick Movie Awards and the Los Angeles Reel Film Festival (2010). As of February 2026, The Lighthouse had amassed more than 2.9 million views on YouTube. The film and television productions to which Huang has contributed music composition or production have collectively received more than one hundred selections, awards, and invited screenings at festivals and competitions in Taiwan and abroad. Notable recognitions include advancement to the Los Angeles regional semifinals in the Animation category of the 38th Student Academy Awards; nominations for the Golden Bell Awards and Taipei Film Awards; a Silver Award at the ASIFA-Hollywood AEF Student Animation Festival; and presentations at the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival, Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, Rhode Island International Film Festival, Sapporo International Short Film Festival & Market, and Cannes Film Festival’s Short Film Corner.

Huang has also composed for major official events and private enterprises, including music for the official title sequence of the 54th Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival; music production for the visual arts segment of the 53rd Golden Horse Awards Ceremony; operatic aria arrangements for the 25th Golden Melody Awards for Traditional Arts and Music; and the march for the 21st Summer Deaflympics Taipei. He was also a contracted advertising composer for HTC (2011–2013). The stage production Water Ghost, City God, for which he participated in the music production, was released on CD by Warner Music in 2006 and nominated for Best Classical Album at the 18th Golden Melody Awards. In 2014, he was runner-up in the Ministry of Culture of Taiwan’s Cultural and Creative Value-Adding Competition. His work Taiwan’s Mountains: Guardians of the Motherland, commissioned by the Mazer Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, was performed at the 2023 Summa Cum Laude International Youth Music Festival in Vienna, Austria, and received the SCL Festival Jury Award.

Huang has received commissioned-work grants from the National Culture and Arts Foundation (Taiwan), and his music has been presented at the National Flute Association’s Annual Convention (USA). His compositions have been performed at numerous venues, including Taiwan’s National Concert Hall, National Theater, National Recital Hall, National Taichung Theater Playhouse, and Weiwuying (Opera House, Concert Hall, and Recital Hall), as well as Zhongzheng Auditorium and Guangfu Auditorium at Zhongshan Hall in Taipei. In the United States, his music has been presented at the New England Conservatory of Music, UCLA, the Phoenix Convention Center, and the Multicultural Arts Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Internationally, performances have taken place at venues such as the Vienna Musikverein (Austria), Fukushima City Concert Hall (Japan), Yongsan Art Hall (South Korea), and Peking University (China), among others. Since returning to Taiwan in 2014, Huang has taught at National Taiwan Normal University, Fu Jen Catholic University, Soochow University, National Sun Yat-sen University, the University of Taipei, National Tsing Hua University, and National Taiwan University of Arts. He previously served as a full-time faculty member in the Department of Ethnomusicology at Nanhua University, and is currently a full-time assistant professor in the Department of Music at National University of Tainan.

Huang received his B.F.A. in Music from National Taiwan Normal University (2005) and was awarded the university’s Mu-Dou Award for Student Excellence the following year. He earned his M.M. from the New England Conservatory of Music (2008) and completed his Ph.D. in Music at the University of California, Los Angeles, in early 2014. While abroad, he received scholarships and graduate teaching assistantships, and was awarded the Taiwanese government’s Study Abroad Scholarship (2010–2012). His composition teachers included Mao-Shuen Chen, Hope Lee, John Mallia, Paul Chihara, David Lefkowitz, Ian Krouse, and Mark Carlson; he also received additional coaching from Larry Sitsky, Jim Cotter, Richard Cornell, and Bright Sheng through masterclasses and workshops. In music production, he studied mixing privately with recording and mixing engineer Tim Starnes, whose credits include The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and studied film-music production techniques with composer Daniel Rojas, who formerly worked at Hans Zimmer’s Remote Control Productions.

In addition to teaching, Huang is an appointed composer at MangoWork Studio and serves as composer-in-residence with the Taiwan Artists Symphony Orchestra and Baroque Camerata. He is regularly commissioned to write music for concerts, arrangements, commercials, films, and other visual media. Recent screen credits include the Public Television Service (Taiwan) series Hate the Sin, Love the Sinner (available on Netflix), Haru and Porky, and the documentary film Phil’s Journey. He has collaborated with ensembles including the Taipei Symphony Orchestra, the National Philharmonic of Ukraine (Kyiv Philharmonic), the Kaohsiung Symphony Orchestra, the Kaohsiung City Wind Orchestra, the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra, Cello4, and Viva Flauti! Ensemble, and has received commissions from organizations such as the Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra, the Taipei Chinese Orchestra, the Taoyuan Chinese Orchestra, and the National Symphony Orchestra.

His first album of original compositions, White Clouds & Grey Dogs: Echoes in Flux, was released in March 2026 by Navona Records, the classical music imprint of the U.S. record label PARMA Recordings, and received a gold medal at the Global Music Awards in April of the same year.

 

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