Yu Zheng

Victor Zheng was born in Beijing, China and raised in Portland, Oregon. He holds degrees from Oberlin Conservatory (BM, BA ’16), the University of Massachusetts Amherst (MM ’18), and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (DMA ’23).

Victor explores the intersection between electronic composition and human performance in his work, using algorithmically assisted composition and interactive electronics to power custom designed instruments or featuring as a live companion to acoustic instrumentalists. He has had his music and research featured at events including MOXSonic, Electronic Music Midwest, SEAMUS, NYCEMF, the SCI National Conference, and ICMC, as well as in publications including Art On My Sleeve, Willamette Week, and Oregon Arts Watch.

Victor currently serves as Visiting Assistant Professor of Music at North Central, teaching music composition, technology, theory, and history.

Selected Scholarship

Zheng, Victor. “Fork: Composing a Live Soundtrack for Chess.” Paper presented at SuperCollider Symposium, Johns Hopkins University, 13–15 March 2025. https://supercollider-2025.github.io/papers/Zheng.pdf.

Zheng, Victor. “Chess and Music: Quantitative and Artistic Interpretation of Information.” In International Conferences Proceedings 2025: Information Systems and e-Society, 470–474. IADIS Press, 2025.

Zheng, Victor. “The Interpretive-Generative Spectrum and its Role in The Form of Live-Performed Electroacoustic Music.” In Proceedings of the 2024 International Computer Music Conference, 226–229. Ann Arbor, MI: Michigan Publishing Services, 2024. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/fulcrum.2227ms73r.

Courses Taught

MUSI 101 Music Theory I

MUSI 102 Music Theory II

MUSI 201 Music Theory III

MUSI 202 Music Theory IV

MUSI 285 Intro to Music Technology

MUSI 150 Listening to Music

MUSI 258 Music Now

MUSI 301 Doing Music History

MUSI 302 Doing Ethnomusicology