Chinese-born American composer Lei Liang is the winner of the Rome Prize, the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Koussevitzky Foundation Commission, two NEA grants, and a Creative Capital Award. His concerto for saxophone and orchestra “Xiaoxiang” was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Music in 2015. Lei Liang was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic and Alan Gilbert for the inaugural CONTACT! new music series. His six portrait discs are released on Naxos, New World, Mode, and Bridge Records. He edited and co-edited four books and editions, and published more than twenty articles. Lei Liang received degrees from the New England Conservatory of Music (B.M. and M.M.) and Harvard University (Ph.D.). He serves as Professor of Music and chair of the composition area at the University of California, San Diego. His catalogue of more than seventy works is published exclusively by Schott Music Corporation (New York).

Lei Liang was Yellow Barn's 2014 Composer in Residence.