about

Michael Cheng (b. 1997) is an award-winning composer and pianist born in Hong Kong and currently based in Boston, Massachusetts. His teachers have included Chaya Czernowin, Richard Beaudoin, Robert Kyr, Andrew Clark, Federico Cortese, Christopher Hasty, Ann Witherspoon, and John and Nancy Weems. 

His compositions have been performed across the United States and internationally, including before audiences of over 30,000 and such dignitaries as then-New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Performances have been given by such illustrious ensembles as the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum, the Harvard Commencement Choir, the Antioch Chamber Ensemble, the Parker Quartet, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, the Axiom Quartet, Voices of Change, as well as pianist Aristo Sham. He is also a Diploma awardee and finalist of the 2022 International J.S. Bach Piano Competition in Saarbrücken, Germany.

Cheng began studying piano at the age of four and composing on his own from the age of five. He is the two-time United States national winner of the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) Composition Competition (Junior, 2012; Young Artist, 2021), as well as two-time national runner-up of the same (Junior, 2011; Senior, 2014). He has also been a winner of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) Student Composers Competition, two-time winner of the Foundation of Modern Music Robert Avalon International Composition for Composers, and a winner of competitions by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra/Voices of Change, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, the Manchester New Music Festival, the National Federation of Music Clubs, and Tribeca New Music (honorable mention). He was awarded Harvard’s Hugh F. MacColl Prize in 2016 and third and second prizes at the American Prize for Choral Composition in 2019 and 2020, a national competition open to composers of all ages. His music has also been featured on the United States Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Furthermore, Michael earned his Licentiate of Trinity College London (LTCL) in Music Composition with Distinction in 2013, at the age of 16, as well as the Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music (LRSM) in Piano Performance with Distinction the same year. In 2011, he attained perfect marks on the Grade 8 Music Theory Examination of the Associate Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM).

In 2019, Cheng graduated from Harvard University with an A.B. in Physics magna cum laude, an S.M. in Engineering Sciences, and a minor in Economics. While at Harvard, he was recognized as a John Harvard Scholar and served as Co-President of the Harvard Composers Association for three years. He then earned an S.M. at MIT and returned to Harvard in 2021, where he is a member of the Harvard University Choir and the Ferris Choral Fellows of the Harvard Memorial Church.

Chung Hon Michael Cheng (b. 1997) is an award-winning composer born in Hong Kong. His teachers have included Chaya Czernowin, Richard Beaudoin, Robert Kyr, Andrew Clark, Federico Cortese, Christopher Hasty, Ann Witherspoon, and John and Nancy Weems. 

His compositions have been performed across the United States and internationally, including before audiences of over 30,000 and such dignitaries as then-New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. He is also a Diploma awardee and finalist of the 2022 International J. S. Bach Piano Competition in Saarbrücken, Germany. 

Cheng began studying piano at age four and composing on his own at age five. He is the two-time United States national winner of the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) Composition Competition (Junior, 2012; Young Artist, 2021), as well as two-time national runner-up of the same (Junior, 2011; Senior, 2014). He has also won numerous other national and international awards in composition, and his music has been featured on the United States Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). 

In 2019, Cheng graduated from Harvard University with an A.B. in Physics magna cum laude, an S.M. in Engineering Sciences, and a minor in Economics. He then earned an S.M. at MIT and returned to Harvard in 2021, where he is a member of the Harvard University Choir and the Ferris Choral Fellows of the Harvard Memorial Church.