Curriculum vitae
Yixin Cui
tenor, composer, keyboardist, conductor
Education
Eastman School of Music
Rochester, NY
Master of Arts, Composition
2026-2028, anticipated
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore, PA
Bachelor of Arts, Philosophy; minor in Music
2021-2025
- Cumulative GPA 3.97/4.00.
- Senior theses: Contingency, Difference, and Reproducibility in the Ontological Problems of Aleatoric Music; The Archaeology of Olympics: On Instrumentalized Bodies.
Teachers
VoiceLara Nie
Vocal CoachDebra Scurto-Davis
PianoMarcantonio Barone; Keiko Sato
OrganEdward Landin Senn
CompositionGerald Levinson; Thomas Whitman; Erin Busch
ConductingAndrew Hauze; Nathan Reiff
Masterclass and Workshop Appearances
- American Guild of Organists, Philadelphia Chapter, organ (2023)
- Damin Spritzer, organ (2023)
- Mark Loria, organ (2023)
- Violafest with Hannah Rose Nicholas, composition (2023)
- Roderick Williams OBE, composition (2024)
- Jasper String Quartet, conducting (2024)
- Wildflower Lab with Relâche Ensemble, composition (2025)
- Roderick Williams OBE, voice (2025)
- Tamara Lukasheva and Hans Lüdemann, voice and composition (2025)
- American Choral Directors Association, Pennsylvania, conducting (2025)
- Peggy Dettwiler and Anton Armstrong, conducting (2025)
Professional Experience
Eastman School of Music Instrument Office
Rochester, NY
Piano Technology Apprentice
2026-present
- Apprenticeship in piano technology through Eastman's instrument office.
Pagoda Artworks, Inc., Westside Music Conservatory
Los Angeles, CA
Intern
2025-2026
- Illustrator and designer for a young children's piano pedagogy book republishing project.
- Maintenance of professional composer's website.
Cooper Series, Swarthmore College
Swarthmore, PA
Tenor
2025-2026
- Soloist for a newly commissioned cantata by C. Leonard Raybon.
Swarthmore Garnet Singers
Swarthmore, PA
Conductor and Pianist
2026
Concert Musician
Swarthmore, PA
2025-present
- Collaborative keyboard work for rehearsal, sight-reading, and concert performance for Choir, Orchestra, and other ensembles.
Swarthmore College
Swarthmore, PA
Tutor, Grader
2021-2024
- Tutoring and grading for mathematics, modern languages, and music theory.
Ensemble Experience
- Swarthmore Chorus, section leader, soloist, octet singer
- Swarthmore Garnet Singers, senior student conductor, composer, pianist
- Swarthmore Orchestra, celesta, piano, organ, percussion, composer
- Swarthmore Lab Orchestra, senior student conductor, percussion
- Swarthmore Theatre Department, student keyboardist
- Swarthmore Chinese Music Ensemble, erhu, zheng, voice, yangqin, conducting assistant
Selected Compositions
Chamber and Instrumental
- Bayanbulak (2023), 8′20″, solo viola
- Urtonforschungen I (2024), 5′, piano and vibraphone
- Urtonforschungen II (2024), 4′, chamber ensemble
- A Song in the Winter (2025), 6′, soprano and piano
- A Past Life (2025), 5′, solo sign-singer in CSL
- Saijōtai Yamata[i]-K[h]itan No. 2 (2025), 9′, percussion and voice
- Phalanx Break (2025), 6′30″, piccolo and piano; commissioned by Passacaglia Chamber Music Collective
Large Ensemble
- Twink Death (2025), approx. 65′, two actors, high voice, and large ensemble
Choral
- DU:: nouvelle prière bouddhique (2025), 9′, SATB, percussion, piano
Orchestral
- Impasse of the Weasels (2025), 6′20″, orchestra
Scholarships and Fellowships
Hannah A. Leedom Fellowship, Swarthmore College 2026-2027
Merit Scholarships, University of Rochester 2026-present
Freeman Scholars, Swarthmore College Music Department 2024-2025
Languages
Listed from higher to lower proficiency.
Mandarin, English, Japanese, Classical Chinese, French, German, Chinese Sign Language (PRC standard), Classical Japanese, Tibetan.
Selected Performance Repertoire
Voice
- Richard Strauss: Befreit, Op. 39, No. 4
- Jules Massenet: Pourquoi me réveiller?, Werther, Act III
- Benjamin Britten: Miles...!, The Turn of the Screw, Act I
- Lili Boulanger: Clairières dans le ciel
- Olivier Messiaen: Trois mélodies
- Chen Yi: Meditation
- Spencer Klaw Kennedy: Péripéties
Piano
- Sofia Gubaidulina: Toccata-Troncata
- Tōru Takemitsu: Rain Tree Sketch II
- Nikolai Kapustin: 8 Concert Etudes
- Gerald Levinson: Chorale for Nanine, with Birds
- Tristan Murail: Le Rossignol en amour
Organ
- J. Pachelbel: Toccata in E minor, P. 462
- A. Vivaldi / J. S. Bach: Concerto in D minor, BWV 596
- Louis Vierne: 24 Pièces en style libre
- György Ligeti: Volumina
- Modest Mussorgsky / Jean Guillou: Pictures at an Exhibition
Chamber and Ensemble
- G. F. Handel: Organ Concerto, Op. 4, No. 4, HWV 292, continuo on harpsichord
- J. S. Bach: Ich habe genug, BWV 82, continuo on chamber organ
- F. Schubert: Winterreise, Op. 89, piano
- Carl Reinecke: Flute Sonata Undine, Op. 167, piano
- Erwin Schulhoff: Hot-Sonate, piano
- George Bizet: Au fond du temple saint, Les pêcheurs de perles, Act I, tenor
- Giacomo Puccini: O soave fanciulla, La bohème, Act I, tenor
- Luo Zhong-rong: Five Tang Quatrains, tenor
- Antonio Estévez: Mata del Anima Sola, soloist
- P. D. Q. Bach [Prof. Peter Schickele]: Knock, Knock Cantata, soloist
Conducting
- J. Haydn: Symphony No. 45
- Pärt Uusberg: Õhtul
- Charles H. Gabriel / Rollo Dilworth: I Sing Because I'm Happy