Xu Han 许瀚 ( Beijing China) is a composer, scholar, sound artist, trombone &euphonium player, instrument hacker, coder, and improviser who draws inspiration from Buddhist Philosophy and hands-on aesthetics.
Han is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Peking University (School of Arts). Han holds a Doctor of Musical Arts at Cornell University and finished a music master degree in composition (graduating with distinction) from the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) in Manchester, the UK.
Han’s works have been performed by London Symphony Orchestra (UK), BBC Singers(UK), Wet Ink Ensemble(USA), Israeli Chamber Project(Israel), Composers Conference Ensemble(USA) with Conductor Vimbayi Kaziboni, Red Desert Ensemble(USA), Yarn/Wire(USA), Greg Stuart(USA), Sara Zazo Romero(Spain), Orlando Contemporary Chamber Orchestra(USA), KOE DUO(USA), NOMON(USA), Manchester Camerata(UK),19 SoundLab(China), Tacet(i) Ensemble(Thailand), Cornell Festival Chamber Orchestra(USA), and RNCM Symphony Orchestra(UK).
Han has been supported by scholarships and funding from Peking University BoYa post-doc Fellowship, Sage Fellowship of Graduate School at Cornell University(USA), Otto R. Stahl Memorial Award(USA), Darmstadt Summer Course(Germany), Composers Conference – Fromm Foundation Composition Fellowship (USA), British Council(UK), LSO Panufnik Composers Scheme(UK), Cornell Council for the Arts(USA), Beijing Sound Art Museum（China），RNCM School of Composition(UK), RNCM School of Wind, Brass and Percussion(UK), Peking University Resources（Holdings）Company Limited（China), and was also the recipient of the British Composer Arnold Cooke Award(UK), and London Symphony Orchestra Bursary(UK).
His recent research has been published in Huangzhong (the Journal of Wuhan Conservatory of Music), a national core academic journal, and an ecomusicology article by Professor Blake Stevens and Xu Han is forthcoming in Chinese Arts, a journal of Peking University. Han’s recent works in music and sound installation have been presented at the Shanghai Concert Hall and the Beijing Museum of Sound Art, and have been covered by media outlets such as Chinese Music Weekly and Art China. His recent projects and research outcomes have been featured at the 50th International Computer Music Conference (ICMC 2025) and the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME 2025). He has given lectures at institutions including the Central Conservatory of Music (Department of Composition), the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou), the University of California, San Diego (Computer Music and Composition), and the China Conservatory of Music (Department of Composition).
Han studies with Adam Gorb, Benjamin D. Piekut, Blake Stevens, Marianthi Papaleandri-Alexandri, Kevin Ernste, Trevor J. Pinch, Emily Howard, and Roberto Sierra.
As a sound artist and a scholar of sound studies, Han attended classes, presentations, and lectures of Brandon LaBelle, Marcel Zaels, Seth Cluett, Nora Gomringer, Mario Mazzoli, Zeynep Bulut, Sebastian Lexer, Dmitry Gelfand, Evelina Domnitch, Matteo Marangoni, Pe Lang, Juliane Beck, Barbara London, G. Douglas Barrett, Alan Licht, Gascia Ouzounian, Marie Thompson, Christoph Cox, Mauricio Pauly, Harald Kisiedu, and Nicolas Collins.
As a composer, Han attended masterclasses and lessons of George E. Lewis, Michelle Lou, Zeena Parkins, Qigang Chen, Kurt Rohde, Colin Matthews, Jorge Sánchez-Chiong, Louis Andriessen, Tania León, Paula Matthusen, Sarah Hennies, Krzysztof Penderecki, Chen Yi, Zhou Long, Mark- Anthony Turnage, Brian Ferneyhough, Chaya Czernowin, Timothy McCormack, Simon Bainbridge, Judith Weir, Paul Patterson, Gary Carpenter, David Horne, Tim Garland, Elaine Gould, Anders Hillborg, and Tonia Ko.
Xu Han 许瀚 