Yifan Shao

Yifan Shao (b.2003) is a Chinese composer, vocal artist, visual artist, writer, and curator. His works explore intimacy and spatial perceptions through extremely phantasmatic gradations. He also seeks to maximize performative capabilities: he sings over 6 octaves with nearly synthesizer-level timbral control and handles up to 5 pitches simultaneously via a combination of multiphonic techniques, breathing unreachable beauties into his artistic world.

His works have received recognition in more than 10 countries, including but not limited to venues like Carnegie Hall, San Francisco Center for New Music, and Blank Wall Gallery; festivals like Sofia Symphonic Summit, CEME International New Music Festival, St. Petersburg International New Music Festival, Monteluce Music Festival, Getxophoto International Image Festival, and Nordingrå Konstrunda; and exposures like PhotoVogue, KPOO San Francisco, San Francisco Classical Voice, CultureNow Greece. Among his collaborators: Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra, Festino Chamber Choir, Mouthscape Choir, Corale di Monteluce, Moscow Soloists Contemporary Ensemble, conductor Jacques Desjardins, flautist Ania Karpowicz, violist Amelia Krinke, pianist Hao Wu, artist Alexandra Pink, producer Pontus Kraft, and so on.

He is the voice soloist of San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra in 2025, where he premieres new music by composers from different countries with other members. He is the founder and co-artistic director of Vocalverse, a new vocal music collective, and the co-founder and co-owner of Kooperativet Vännerstaskolan. His music scores are published by Universal Edition and J.W. Pepper.

He is currently pursuing his Bachelor of Music degree in composition at San Francisco Conservatory of Music under Elinor Armer. He also went to Odin Home Festival at Odin Teatret, Denmark in 2024 to study theatre and vocal performance, and received instructions from masters such as Eugenio Barba, Julia Varley, and Jan Ferslev.