Yang Zhang(XLII)
- Composer
- Producer
- Director
Two-time HMMA and Telly Award winner Yang Zhang is a multifaceted professional with extensive experience in music production, entrepreneurship, and social innovation. Renowned for her pioneering work in cross-over blending, she has garnered acclaim for projects like "Bullet Symphony - Live Coding For Everyone", "The Realm of Desire", "Recall of The Fallen Empire", "The Lord of Flame", and "The Road To Wutumeiren ". Yang Zhang's latest projects, "Bullet Symphony - Live Coding For Everyone" earned multiple accolades, including the 2024 Hollywood Music In Media Awards for Special Recognition in New Media, the 2024 Telly Awards for Best Use of Music in the category of Promotional Video. Her latest album "The Realm of Desire" won the Cannes World Film Festival for Best Song, Best Composer of The Future, 2024 The IndieX Film Festival and 2024 Indie Shorts Festival for Best Original Song, 2024 Global Music Awards silver medals for Best Composer, Best Creativity and Originality. Her album "The Touch of The Surging Tide" won the 2023 Global Music Awards gold medals, the 2024 Indie Short Festival for Best Original Music, 2024 Parai Musical International Awards for Best Original Song. Additionally, her other musical projects "The Road To Wutumeiren'' won the 2024 Cannes World Film Festival for Best Original Song, and "The Lord of Flame '' won the 2024 Folkestone Film Festival for Best Animation Music Video, and The 2022 Hollywood Music in Media Awards for Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy genre. Her "Recall of The Fallen Empire" won the 2024 Berlin Indie Festival for Best Sound Design.
Beyond music, she founded Mercury Orbit Music, a tech-driven startup, which gained prominence through initiatives like XPRIZE and the Ted X Talk. Yang Zhang's entrepreneurial journey includes recognition from various accelerators and grants, highlighting her commitment to innovation in the music and technology sectors.
Music Creation: She is an active professional and is a voting member of the Emmy Music Peer Group. Back in 2009, as an Electronic music pioneer in China, her first album titled "The Road To Wutumeiren'' was immediately acclaimed by U.K. music producer Guy Sigsworth, and the EP with the same title was released by China Universal Record. In 2011, she signed with a New York-based music publisher Ed Steinberg. In 2016, the score she created for a trans-media project titled "The World Is A Retro" won the Best Original Music for the 2016 Montreal "View Of The World" film & music festival. Since 2021, she has released her series of albums and was nominated for the 2021 Hollywood Music In Media Awards for Best Instrumental ("Recall Of The Fallen Empire"). In 2022, she won the best Sci-Fi/Fantasy music genre at the 13th Hollywood Music In Media Awards ("The Lord Of The Flame)," after the success of her award-winning album titled "The Hard-boiled Wonderland and The End of Flame," for which she was awarded the Bronze Medal at 2022 Global Music Awards. In 2023, she produced the album named "The Touch of The Surging Tide", where she teamed up with acclaimed artists from South India who have collaborated with 2x Academy Award-winning composer, AR Rahman of "Slumdog Millionaire". The album was submitted to the 2024 Grammy Awards® in the Contemporary Instrumental category and was consulted and supervised by 2x Grammy® winning composer Brent Fischer, and the featured flutist is Vijay Gopal, who is an A-grade artist of All India Radio. The Indian recording sessions were co-produced and engineered by 3x Grammy accredited musician, Devan Ekambaram. The album won the 2023 Global Music Awards 2x Gold Medals for Best Composer & New Age. Furthermore, it won 2x Gold Medals for Best Fusion Music & Best Composer at Little Talents Awards in 2023. In 2024 Jan, the album was nominated in the category of Best New Age Electronic Music Album for New Age Notes Radio Music Awards 2024. In 2024, her music video "Recall of The Fallen Empire" won the 2024 Berlin Indie Festival for Best Sound Design, the 2024 best-animated music video for the FOLKESTONE FILM FESTIVAL, and got two nominations for Best Film and Best Animated Video for the 2024 The Southern California International Film Festival. In 2024 August, she released her album "The Realm of Desire" which boldly redefines the philosophy of "nirvana" by exploring the first realm of desire as the access to further and reflect the concept of Samsara: the cycle of conditioned existence, birth, and rebirth. The philosophy behind the desire realm, and the connection to "nirvana" is intuitively sophisticated, controversial, and infinite. The album sets the tone of "Retro-futurism'' by tracing back three fictional scenes in New York in the Jazz era, ancient Japan in the 17 century, and Paris in 1920 to reveal three layers of desires: to be vividly portrayed intensity in sharp contrast of cold atmosphere; the suppressed emotions beyond the expression, and the illusions at the edge of sunlight and shadow. Since its release, the album won the 2024 Global Music Awards silver medals for Best Composer & Best Creativity & Originality, the featured tracks "Lost Time Remains" and "A Scent of Time Ash (Trumpet Version)" won the Best Song and Best Composer of The Future For Cannes World Film Festival. "Lost Time Remains" continuously won the Best Original Song both for the Los Angeles Indies Shorts Festival and the IndieX Film Festival for Best Original Song.
A.I. Music Venture: As a tech-driven startup founder and a social enterprise entrepreneur, she launched a new A.I. music startup, Mercury Orbit Music. At the beginning of 2017, she led her interdisciplinary team comprising A.I. music scientists, programmers, and Grammy-nominated musicians to participate in the XPRIZE. As a result, Mercury Orbit Music was recognized as the only startup related to A.I. music among the top 30 A.I. technologies by the XPRIZE in 2018. In 2020, she was selected as the 2020 TedX Talk Speaker. In 2022, the pilot music education program she created titled "A.I.-enabled Music Program'' was funded by the California Arts Council with grant programs titled "Art Education Exposure" and "Creative Youth Development."
Beyond music, she founded Mercury Orbit Music, a tech-driven startup, which gained prominence through initiatives like XPRIZE and the Ted X Talk. Yang Zhang's entrepreneurial journey includes recognition from various accelerators and grants, highlighting her commitment to innovation in the music and technology sectors.
Music Creation: She is an active professional and is a voting member of the Emmy Music Peer Group. Back in 2009, as an Electronic music pioneer in China, her first album titled "The Road To Wutumeiren'' was immediately acclaimed by U.K. music producer Guy Sigsworth, and the EP with the same title was released by China Universal Record. In 2011, she signed with a New York-based music publisher Ed Steinberg. In 2016, the score she created for a trans-media project titled "The World Is A Retro" won the Best Original Music for the 2016 Montreal "View Of The World" film & music festival. Since 2021, she has released her series of albums and was nominated for the 2021 Hollywood Music In Media Awards for Best Instrumental ("Recall Of The Fallen Empire"). In 2022, she won the best Sci-Fi/Fantasy music genre at the 13th Hollywood Music In Media Awards ("The Lord Of The Flame)," after the success of her award-winning album titled "The Hard-boiled Wonderland and The End of Flame," for which she was awarded the Bronze Medal at 2022 Global Music Awards. In 2023, she produced the album named "The Touch of The Surging Tide", where she teamed up with acclaimed artists from South India who have collaborated with 2x Academy Award-winning composer, AR Rahman of "Slumdog Millionaire". The album was submitted to the 2024 Grammy Awards® in the Contemporary Instrumental category and was consulted and supervised by 2x Grammy® winning composer Brent Fischer, and the featured flutist is Vijay Gopal, who is an A-grade artist of All India Radio. The Indian recording sessions were co-produced and engineered by 3x Grammy accredited musician, Devan Ekambaram. The album won the 2023 Global Music Awards 2x Gold Medals for Best Composer & New Age. Furthermore, it won 2x Gold Medals for Best Fusion Music & Best Composer at Little Talents Awards in 2023. In 2024 Jan, the album was nominated in the category of Best New Age Electronic Music Album for New Age Notes Radio Music Awards 2024. In 2024, her music video "Recall of The Fallen Empire" won the 2024 Berlin Indie Festival for Best Sound Design, the 2024 best-animated music video for the FOLKESTONE FILM FESTIVAL, and got two nominations for Best Film and Best Animated Video for the 2024 The Southern California International Film Festival. In 2024 August, she released her album "The Realm of Desire" which boldly redefines the philosophy of "nirvana" by exploring the first realm of desire as the access to further and reflect the concept of Samsara: the cycle of conditioned existence, birth, and rebirth. The philosophy behind the desire realm, and the connection to "nirvana" is intuitively sophisticated, controversial, and infinite. The album sets the tone of "Retro-futurism'' by tracing back three fictional scenes in New York in the Jazz era, ancient Japan in the 17 century, and Paris in 1920 to reveal three layers of desires: to be vividly portrayed intensity in sharp contrast of cold atmosphere; the suppressed emotions beyond the expression, and the illusions at the edge of sunlight and shadow. Since its release, the album won the 2024 Global Music Awards silver medals for Best Composer & Best Creativity & Originality, the featured tracks "Lost Time Remains" and "A Scent of Time Ash (Trumpet Version)" won the Best Song and Best Composer of The Future For Cannes World Film Festival. "Lost Time Remains" continuously won the Best Original Song both for the Los Angeles Indies Shorts Festival and the IndieX Film Festival for Best Original Song.
A.I. Music Venture: As a tech-driven startup founder and a social enterprise entrepreneur, she launched a new A.I. music startup, Mercury Orbit Music. At the beginning of 2017, she led her interdisciplinary team comprising A.I. music scientists, programmers, and Grammy-nominated musicians to participate in the XPRIZE. As a result, Mercury Orbit Music was recognized as the only startup related to A.I. music among the top 30 A.I. technologies by the XPRIZE in 2018. In 2020, she was selected as the 2020 TedX Talk Speaker. In 2022, the pilot music education program she created titled "A.I.-enabled Music Program'' was funded by the California Arts Council with grant programs titled "Art Education Exposure" and "Creative Youth Development."
