Shuwen Liao

Shuwen Liao is a Chinese composer currently pursuing the Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) degree in Composition at the Manhattan School of Music, where she studies with Prof. Susan Botti and Dr. Reiko Füting. She earned her Bachelor of Music in Composition in 2022 and her Master of Music in Composition in 2024 from MSM, and previously studied composition with Dr. Wenpei Ju at the Music Middle School affiliated with the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.

She was the first Chinese composer selected for the New York Philharmonic’s “Very Young Composers” program. Her orchestral work Shadow of the Wolf was performed by the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center and at the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra Concert Hall.

Shuwen’s work has been recognized in national and international competitions. Her chamber works have received prizes including First Prize at the Third “Spring Awakening” National Composition Competition and First Prize in the Kaleidoscope Music Competition (Canada). Her wind quintet Warm Station was commissioned by Windscape and premiered in New York. She is also a recipient of the Giampaolo Bracali Award for Music Composition, the Jan Williams Award for Composition/Contemporary Performance Collaboration and the Carl Kanter Prize at Manhattan School of Music. Her orchestral work Elegant Cloud received the Grand Prize in the Red Maple Composition Competition in Canada.

In her music, Shuwen seeks to create illusions: something wild and unexpected, with subtlety and expressivity, quietly exciting, and full of lightness.