Yuanbin Cao, composition

Yuanbin Cao (born in 1998 in China) is a composer whose work brings together sound, performance, space and theatrical elements. She explores the connections between different artistic forms.

She completed her bachelor’s degree at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China, where she studied with Prof. Fei Wang, Prof. Binyang Li and Prof. Chen Yao. She continued her studies in the master’s programme and later in the Concert exam at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Stuttgart with Prof. Luxa M. Schüttler and substitute professors Robin Hoffmann and Hannes Seidl. In 2025, she was awarded the Deutschlandstipendium.

Her compositions have been performed by the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, the Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, and the Diotima Quartet. In 2023, she was selected for the Saarbrücken Composers’ Workshop. In 2025, she received the first and third prizes at the 22nd International Carl von Ossietzky Composition Competition, which focused on music_scene_theatre. One of her piano pieces was published in the collection ›Magical Colours – Original Chinese Piano Pieces for Four Hands‹ (Culture and Art Publishing House).

Alongside contemporary music, her artistic practice includes compositions for theatre and performance, which have been performed in China, the United States and Germany.

Yuanbin Cao is a fellow of the KfW Stiftung as part of Frankfurt Moves!