Born in Hunan, China, Daixuan Ai’s music combines tradition with modernism and connects Eastern and Western cultures. She is a composer, pianist, and teacher who is dedicated to learning and understanding the musical legacy from the past and opening her ears and heart to absorbing and creating music of today’s world. Her compositions are well-crafted, formally precise, and deeply thoughtful. Currently a doctoral composition student at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Daixuan’s music has been performed by many prestigious ensembles including Cleveland Chamber Symphony, CityMusic Cleveland, Hub New Music, and 5th House Ensemble.
     As a composer, Daixuan has earned her bachelor’s degree in composition from Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory where she studied composition with Clint Needham. In 2017, Daixuan was selected as a BW Summer Scholar participant.  She researched the cultures and music of a Chinese minority ethnic group that is strongly connected to her family called “Xiangxi Tujia and Miao,” and composed a 15-min orchestra piece “My Father’s Tale” which was performed by BW Symphonic Orchestra.  Daixuan also worked closely with faculty members at BW.  She was commissioned by Cleveland Orchestra trumpeter Jack Sutte to write “Sonata for Trumpet And Piano” for his recital and CD.  Daixuan premiered and conducted her “Octet for Winds” with BW Symphonic Wind Ensemble under the guidance of conductor Brendan Caldwell.  Caldwell and BW SWE will premiere Daixuan’s newest wind ensemble piece “Planetarium Tetralogy” during 2022-23 school year.
Daixuan attended the European American Musical Alliance Summer Institute in Paris, France in 2019. through the program, she studied composition with David Conte, and took classes on harmony, counterpoint, and analysis.  She continued taking classes from EAMA and studying directly with the program founder Philip Lasser. in spring 2022, she worked as an assistant teacher for a counterpoint class at the Academy.
In May 2022, Daixuan received her master’s degree in composition from Indiana University. There, she studied with David Dzubay, Don Freund, and Katherine Balch.  Her art songs setting poems by New York Times best-selling collection of essays poet Ross Gay were performed by bass vocalist Andrew Forsythe.
Daixuan was selected as a composition fellow at the Aspen Music Festival in 2022. During the month of June to August, she will be studying at the festival with Christopher Theofanidis and Stephen Hartke. Her premieres there include a piece Contemporary Ensemble, a reading with Aspen Conductor’s Orchestra, and art songs on poems by Maggie Smith.
     As a pianist, Daixuan attended Wuhan Conservatory for piano performance at the age of 10.  She studied piano performance with Sungeun Kim during undergraduate degree and Emile Naoumoff at IU.  Daixuan has also served served as keyboardist for BW Symphonic Orchestra and Symphonic Wind Ensemble.
     As a teacher, Daixuan is working as an assistant instructor coordinator for IU Music Theory department. She is also a faculty member of the Jacobs Composition Academy. She believes that cultivating curiosity and enjoyment is as important as developing discipline and techniques and understanding and empathy encourage change more than judgement and criticism.