Ming Tsao appointed Professor of Composition

“For students who are interested in engaging with other musical traditions, I would teach courses that discuss the issues and problems of transcription and quotation in music compositions …” Professor Tsao tells us.

In his compositions, he notes the exact way the instrument should be used rather than the sound that is intended, and he works in close cooperation with the musicians he writes for. This work has led, among other things, to new and unconventional techniques and, of course, to new sounds.
Besides having studied composition, Ming Tsao has also studied traditional Chinese music, ethnomusicology, electroacoustic music and mathematics; the one has simply led to the other, according to Professor Tsao’s own way of putting it.
In 2007, he earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Composition at the University of San Diego.

Ming Tsao is from California and has Chinese but also Swedish roots. He will have a part-time position during a period of three years, with the possibility of this position being extended. His appointment will commence at the beginning of the next academic year.