J.Zhu is a composer, artist, and carillonneur. Her work is visual and aural, operating on an expansive definition of score, striving for the unexpected obvious and expressive absurd.

She entangles various media, from mural painting and sculpture to performance and video, and collaborates with artists from different fields to create experimental chamber experiences. She has activated living rooms, concert halls, art galleries, bell towers, caves, copses, and once made a tiny house for just one harpsichordist’s body and the keyboard.

Her scores range from hair cast in clear resin to temporary tattoos to traditional orchestration, and have been performed by Quasar, Line Upon Line, The Living Earth Show, Marco Fusi, Longleash, PROMPTUS, TAK ensemble, among others. She is the recipient of the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans and first prize in the Zwolle carillon composition competition.

As a professional carillonneur, Zhu has presented concerts and lectures throughout Europe and North America, including a TEDx talk titled The Anonymous Carillonneurs. She was appointed carillonneur at Saint Thomas Fifth Avenue in New York City in 2015.

Zhu studied at Yale University (BA mathematics, BA art), the Royal Carillon School (Diploma carillon performance), Hunter College (MFA art), and at present, Stanford University (DMA composition).